Clearpost.online It's your post, so post it!

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Speculators’ net long positioning on the U.S. dollar rose in the latest week, while net shorts on the euro increased, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. co*modity Futures Trading co*mission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position climbed to $13.37 billion in the week ended Aug. 16, from $12.97 billion the previous week, CFTC data showed. Net long dollar positions have increased for the first time in four weeks.

CFTC data further showed that euro net shorts jumped to 42,784 contracts, the largest since February 2020.

The Federal Reserve policy meeting in late July triggered a two-way flow in the dollar, even though the central bank raised policy rates by 75 basis points. Against the yen, the dollar on July 27 dropped to a three-week low, as the market viewed Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s co*ments after the meeting as less hawkish.

Powell said based on the strength of employment, he did not believe the U.S. economy was in recession, and a recession was not necessarily required to tame super-heated inflation.

The minutes of the July meeting, however, suggested that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates at the next few meetings but the pace of the rate hikes will be data-dependent. The Fed minutes remained supportive for the dollar.

Since the Fed’s July meeting, the dollar index has gained 1.8%. Against the yen, the dollar has slightly eased..

“Despite signs of a potential split emerging within the FOMC (Federal Open Market co*mittee) about how high rates should go and some visible cracks in the economy, a full-blown recession still seems some way off and policymakers’ resolve to contain inflation is indisputable,” wrote Raffi Boyadjian, lead investment analyst, at forex broker XM.

“This is why Treasury yields have been able to recover from their lows ploughed at the start of the month, giving the US dollar, which has been benefiting from renewed safety flows, an extra helping hand.”

In the euro zone, Europe’s single currency is on a downward trajectory, as the region faced an acute energy crisis and rising risks of recession. Since the beginning of the year, the euro has plunged nearly 12% versus the dollar. It was last down 0.5% at $1.0039.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin net shorts slid to 93 contracts, from net short bets of 230 a week ago. This week’s net shorts were the smallest since late January. From late April to early July, speculators were net long bitcoin.

On Friday, bitcoin dropped to a three-week low of $21,156, it was last down 8.6% at $21,182.

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)

$2.691 billion

                   16 Aug 2022            Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long             51,308            52,333         

           Short            80,199            77,365         

           Net             -28,891           -25,032         

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$5.439 billion

                   16 Aug 2022            Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long            199,226           200,088         

           Short           242,010           234,624         

           Net             -42,784           -34,536         

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$2.502 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long             44,084           42,219         

           Short            77,193           76,687         

           Net             -33,109          -34,468         

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$0.671 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long              7,773            8,635         

           Short            12,869           18,417         

           Net              -5,096           -9,782         

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$-2.092 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long             51,843           46,898         

           Short            24,976           25,675         

           Net              26,867           21,223         

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$4.16 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long             28,835           25,644         

           Short            88,083           83,232         

           Net             -59,248          -57,588         

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$0.537 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long            108,642           95,572         

           Short           130,013          123,193         

           Net             -21,371          -27,621         

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)

$-0.112 billion

                   16 Aug 2022           Prior week         

                   week                      

           Long             18,412           18,224         

           Short            16,643           18,500         

           Net               1,769             -276         

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New YorkEditing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)