(Adds analyst comment, table)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short U.S.
dollar positioning soared to the highest level since August
2011, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity
Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The position hit $24.27 billion in the week ended July 28,
up from $18.81 billion the prior period. U.S. net shorts rose
for a fourth straight week as bets against the greenback have
persisted since mid-March.
U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of
International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen,
euro, British pound, Swiss franc as well as the Canadian and
Australian dollars.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that
includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso,
Brazilian real, and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net
short position of $24.53 billion, compared with net shorts of
$19.37 billion the week before. This week's net short position
was largest since April 2018, according to Reuters data.
In contrast, net euro longs hit a record high, CFTC data
showed. Net euro longs were 157,559 contracts this week.
The greenback has struggled over the last few months, driven
by factors including near-zero interest rates as well as Federal
Reserve measures that flooded the international market with
dollars via swap lines.
The buck was down about 10% from the year's high hit in
March against a basket of currencies. On Friday the
dollar fell to its lowest in more than two years.
"The combination of falling real rates and rising risk
assets has been a dominating force across markets over the past
few months, which has likely contributed to the dollar sell-off
over the same period," said Goldman Sachs in a research note on
Friday.
The euro's outperformance kicked off in high gear when
European Union leaders a few weeks ago clinched a massive
stimulus plan that likely meant a less steep regional downturn.
Since its March lows as the coronavirus pandemic forced
lockdowns across Europe, the euro has soared 12% versus the
dollar.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$-3.391 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 62,924 50,854
Short 34,417 31,547
Net 28,507 19,307
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-23.071 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 242,127 204,185
Short 84,568 79,138
Net 157,559 125,047
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$2.053 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 39,329 46,230
Short 64,738 61,310
Net -25,409 -15,080
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$-1.15 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 17,654 17,761
Short 9,212 10,382
Net 8,442 7,379
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$0.934 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 32,105 34,284
Short 44,601 50,982
Net -12,496 -16,698
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$0.359 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 42,402 41,778
Short 47,414 41,983
Net -5,012 -205
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-0.248 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 51,851 49,461
Short 40,987 39,613
Net 10,864 9,848
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$0.056 billion
28 Jul 2020 Prior week
week
Long 17,383 19,597
Short 18,228 17,122
Net -845 2,475
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Tom Brown
and Richard Chang)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.