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S&P500 Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators and traders decreased their net positions in the S&P500 stock futures markets last week for the fifth consecutive week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of S&P500 futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 1,842 contracts in the data reported through January 17th. This was a weekly change of -298 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 2,140 net contracts.
Speculative positions are now at their lowest level since October 4th when total positions equaled +1,708 contracts. The last time speculators were net bearish was just a brief dip on September 13th.
S&P500 Commercial Positions:
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The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -10,754 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of 4,199 contracts from the total net of -14,953 contracts reported the previous week.
S&P500 Stock Market Index:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 index closed at approximately 2267.88 which was a decline of -1.01 from the previous close of 2268.89, according to market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).
Article by CountingPips.com
