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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 to a new overall bearish level for the first time since February, 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 -1,921 contracts in the data reported through May 2nd. This was a weekly drop of -6,159 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 4,238 net contracts.
The decline in the speculative SP500 net position marks the fourth weekly decrease out of the last five weeks and is the first overall short position since February 7th when net positions totaled -1,688 contracts.
S&P500 Commercial Positions:
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Meanwhile, 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 -5,163 contracts last week. This is a weekly rise of 6,193 contracts from the total net of -11,356 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 2391.16 which was an increase of 2.55 from the previous close of 2388.61, 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
