By CountingPips.com
The latest COT data out on Friday showed that futures speculators have increased their long bets for the U.S. dollar against the euro as of June 8th, according to the Commitments of Traders (COT) data released by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were net short the euro against the U.S. dollar by 111,945 contracts after being net short the euro by 93,325 contracts the week before on June 1st. The net short 
euro positions had declined for three straight weeks from the record high of 113,890 weeks as of May 11th before the June 8th data was released.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are expecting that currency to fall against the dollar and net longs expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.
Other major currencies net short in the CME futures market against the dollar as of June 8th were the British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar while the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and Mexican peso all had a net long amount of contracts.
The British Pound Sterling net shorts increased to 74,680 from a total of 70,454 were reported net short on June 1st while the Swiss franc positions were net short 11,415 contracts after 14,724 net shorts the week before. The Japanese yen net short position was 12,547 contracts on June 8th compared with 6,484 net short contracts on June 1st as investors have trimmed their yen short positions quite a bit from being short 65,612 contracts on May 4th to 12,547 on June 8th.
The New Zealand dollar futures positions fell over to the short side of 869 short contracts after being net long 15,586 contracts on June 1st as NZD positions have fallen for four straight weeks.
The Australian dollar futures positions have declined for eight weeks in a row, according to the data. AUD positions were net long by 8,435 contracts as of June 8th, a decrease in long positions after totaling net 15,045 long contracts on June 1st and down from a total of 80,674 longs on April 13th.
The Canadian dollar long positions were net by 22,510 contracts and almost unchanged after 22,154 net longs the week before while the Mexican peso long contracts edged lower for the week to 17,426 long contracts from 19,773 longs the prior.
COT Data Summary (vs. the US Dollar)
Euro record net shorts at 111,945 contracts
British Pound net shorts at 74,680
Swiss Franc net shorts at 11,415
Canadian Dollar net longs at 22,510
Australian Dollar net longs at 8,435
New Zealand Dollar net shorts at 869
Mexican Peso net longs at 17,426
Japanese Yen net shorts at 12,547
