Month: April 2013

Ford Focus is world’s best-selling car
KPMG resigns as auditor for Herbalife, Skechers
Fiat-Chrysler merger path to clarify

Some homeowners go for alarms, others choose dogs, but one man in Thailand has opted for a reptilian protection system with two adult crocodiles guarding his home. (April 9)

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says South Africa’s central bank has done well to balance economic growth and the need to create jobs in its policy decisions. Nigel Stevenson reports

Alcoa’s 1Q profit falls but beats expectations
Volcker: Central banks are too aggressive
Oil ends slightly higher ahead of earnings

Officials: Hagel pushes conviction reversal change
Rutgers reviewing all sports practice videos
Troika to visit Lisbon after court ruling: government

VW patriarch Piech’s wife up for election to Audi board
U.S. Treasury Secretary Lectures Europe About Stupidity of Austerity
French finance minister calls off meeting with U.S. treasury secretary

AstraZeneca’s new strategy gets thumbs down from S&P
S&P pushes to move state cases to federal court
Futures flat with S&P near all-time high

U.S. Treasury Secretary Lectures Europe About Stupidity of Austerity
Xi Jinping: China Will Protect Foreign Businesses
Stocks open mixed after worst week of 2013

By CountingPips.com

The latest weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures traders raised their total bullish bets of the US dollar last week and brought positions to a new high level since July 2012, according to Reuters.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, registered an overall US dollar long position of $26.3 billion as of Tuesday April 2nd. This was an advance from the total long position of $24.8 billion on March 26th, according to position calculations by Reuters (US dollar positions against the total positions of eurofx, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc).

Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions in Futures:

The individual currency contracts quoted directly against the US dollar last week saw increases for the British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican peso while the euro, Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar all had a declining number of net contracts for the week.

Individual Currency Charts:

EuroFX: Weekly change of -16,606

EuroFX: Large trader positions for the euro fell last week for a third straight week. Euro contracts declined to a total net position of -65,701 contracts in the data reported for April 2nd following the previous week’s total of -49,095 net contracts on March 26th. This is a change of -16,606 contracts from the previous week.

Euro positions are at a new low level for 2013 and the lowest standing since November 27 2012 when positions stood at -66,693 contracts.

British Pound Sterling: Weekly change of +1,535

GBP: British pound spec positions halted their decline of ten consecutive weeks last week as positions increased slightly. British pound speculative positions edged up last week to a total of -65,020 net contracts on April 2nd following a total of -66,555 net contracts reported for March 26th. This was a weekly change of +1535 in large trader contracts.

Pound speculator positions have been in a bearish position for eight consecutive weeks since crossing over on February 5th.

Japanese Yen: Weekly change of +10,978

JPY: Japanese yen net speculative contracts rose last week after declining the previous week. Japanese yen positions increased to a total of -78,171 net contracts on April 2nd following a total of -89,149 net short contracts on March 26th. This is a weekly change of +10,978 positions.

Swiss Franc: Weekly change of +183

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions edged up slightly last week after falling for five out of last six weeks. Net positions for the Swiss currency futures rose slightly to a total of -12,015 contracts on April 2nd following a total of -12,198 net contracts reported for March 26th. This is a weekly change of +183 contracts.

Canadian Dollar: Weekly change of -1,899

CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased slightly last week after ending a streak of nine consecutive weeks of decline the previous week. Canadian dollar positions fell to a total of -64,544 contracts as of April 2nd following a total of -62,645 net contracts that were reported for March 26th.

This is a weekly change of -1,899 net contracts following a weekly change of +2,686 the previous week.

Australian Dollar: Weekly change of -1,544

AUD: The Australian dollar fell slightly last week after rising sharply for three consecutive weeks. Aussie speculative futures positions decreased to a total net amount of +83,971 contracts on April 2nd after totaling +85,515 net contracts as of March 26th. This is a weekly change of -1544 in net positions following the previous week’s +31,460 change.

Australian dollar contracts, two weeks ago, were at their highest level since January 22, 2013 when positions equaled +97,011 contracts.

New Zealand Dollar: Weekly change of +1,471

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions advanced last week for a second consecutive week. NZD contracts rose to a total of +18,387 net long contracts as of April 2nd following a total of +16,916 net long contracts on March 26th. This constitutes a weekly change of +1,471 following the previous week’s change of +4,439 net contracts.

Mexican Peso: Weekly change of +14,593

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts rose last week for a second consecutive week. Peso positions increased to a total of +142,755 net speculative positions as of April 2nd following a total of +128,162 contracts that were reported for March 26th. This is a weekly change in net large peso speculator positions of +14,593 contracts following the previous change of +18,786 contracts.

Peso speculative positions have been over the +100,000 threshold for four straight weeks after falling under this level on March 5th for the first time since November 27th 2012.

The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).

Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.

(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)

See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis

10 Year Treasuries: Weekly change of +12,502

10 Year Notes: 10-Year Treasury Note speculative contracts moved higher last week to increase for a third consecutive week. 10-Year positions rose to a total of +110,692 net speculative positions as of April 2nd following a total of +98,190 contracts that were reported for March 26th. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of +12,502 contracts following the previous week’s change of +101,485 contracts.

10-Year Treasury speculative positions are at their highest level since February 26th when positions equaled +115,908 contracts.

See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

By CountingPips.com