By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) data out on Friday showed that futures speculators pared their bets for the U.S. dollar against the euro as of July 6th, according to the COT data released by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
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 in addition to the euro that were net short in the CME futures market against the dollar as of July 6th were the British pound and the Swiss franc while the Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and Mexican peso all had a net long amount of contracts against the dollar.
The British Pound Sterling net shorts increased to -38,077 from a total of -34,771 that were reported net short on June 29th while the Swiss franc positions were net short -7,455 contracts after -12,848 net shorts the week before.
The New Zealand dollar futures positions edged higher on the long side with 2,577 long contracts this week after a total of 2,486 long contracts as of June 29th. The Japanese yen net long contracts increased to 37,926 as of July 6th following 27,427 net long contracts on June 29th. Investors have increased their yen positions for four straight weeks and reversed their yen positions substantially from being short by 65,612 contracts on May 4th.
The Australian dollar futures positions were net long by 7,246 contracts as of July 6th, falling lower after totaling net 12,854 long contracts on June 29 and down from a total of 80,674 net longs on April 13th.
The Canadian dollar long positions fell to net 8,094 contracts and after 15,894 net longs the week before while the Mexican peso long contracts decreased to 22,725 longs from 42,496 longs the prior week.
COT Data Summary (vs. the US Dollar) as of July 6th, 2010
Australian dollar net long on July 6 decrease to 7,246 contracts from 12,854
British pound sterling futures contracts were net short by -38,077 from -34,771
Canadian dollar net long contracts fell to 8,094 from 15,894
Euro net short positions declined to -30,909 from -73,670
Japanese yen net longs up to 37,926 from 27,427
New Zealand dollar longs increased to 2,577 from net long of 2,486 contracts on June 29
Mexican peso long contracts decreased to 22,725 from 42,496 on June 29
Swiss franc short contracts on July 6 were at – 7,455 from -12,848 on June 29
