IMN: US CFTC Data: Specs Accts Still Short Euros; Yen Longs Grow
NEW YORK (MNI) - Speculative accounts trimmed their net euro short positions and added to their net yen long positions as per August 3, according to data released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.
The non-commercial futures-only (ex-options) section of the CFTC's Committments of Traders report showed that speculators decreased their net euro short position to -7,297 contracts from last week's net short of -21,339 contracts.
Tuesday's net euro short was in contrast to the record net euro long of +119,538 contracts seen May 15, 2007 and the record net euro short of -113.890 contracts seen May 11, 2010.
In the yen, as per August 3, speculative accounts had a net long position of +47,998 contracts, the largest net yen long seen since December 1, 2009 (+56,907 contracts).
This compared to the net yen long of +29,921 seen last week and the prior week's long of +40,911 contracts.
The yen position, as per Tuesday, was in contrast to the record net long yen position of +65,920 contracts seen March 25, 2008 and the record net yen short of -188,077 contracts seen June 26, 2007.
The euro closed at $1.3226 and dollar-yen at Y85.78 August 3, which compares to Friday's closing levels of $1.3292 and Y85.42, respectively.
In addition to the legacy COT data, the CFTC offered the breakdown between sell-side (deal/intermediary) and buy-side (asset manager/institutional, leveraged funds, other reportables) accounts in a new report called the Traders in Financial Positions or TFF report.
The COT and TFF reports cannot be directly compared since various accounts could be both commerical or non-commercial, depending upon whether the position is a hedge or a speculative punt.
As per August 3, sell-side accounts had a net euro long of +26,861 contracts and buy-side accounts had a net euro short of -23,131.
This compares to last week, when sell-side accounts had a net euro long of +39,944 contracts and buy-side accounts had a net euro short of -32,024 contracts.
In the yen, as per August 3, sell-side accounts a net yen short of -78,030 contracts and buy-side accounts had a net yen long of +76,125.
Last week, sell-side accounts had a net yen short of -64,343 and buy-side accounts had a net yen long of +63,665.
** Market News International New York Newsroom: 212-669-6430 **
