Strong Jobs Report Boosts USD Net Longs

Investors increased bullish bets on US dollar from $28.0 billion in the previous week to $33.6 billion against the major currencies according to the report of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) covering data up to November 10. The strong jobs report on November 6 increased considerably the likelihood of December rate hike by the Federal Reserve, boosting US dollar bullish sentiment. As is evident from the Sentiment table, the sentiment deteriorated for all major currencies except for the Canadian dollar, and all of the major currencies are held net short against the dollar.

The euro sentiment deteriorated at a slower pace. The net short bets in euro widened $0.7bn to $19.1bn, with euro’s share falling further to about 57% of long US dollar position. The euro net short position rose as investors increased short contracts by 14706 and increased the long bets by 6111 contracts. The Japanese yen sentiment continued to deteriorate with the net short position in yen widening $2.2bn to $6.7bn. Investors increased the gross shorts by 16693 contracts and cut the gross longs by 6408. The sentiment continued to deteriorate also for the British Pound as the small net long position turned into a net short of $1.4bn as investors increased the bearish bets by $1.5bn. Investors increased gross shorts while they cut the gross longs.

The Canadian dollar sentiment remained bearish with the net short position narrowing $141 million to $1.3bn. Investors increased both gross shorts and gross longs. The sentiment toward the Australian dollar deteriorated considerably with net short bets widening by $0.9bn to $3.7bn. Investors increased the gross shorts while they cut gross longs. The bearish sentiment towards the Swiss franc increased with the net short position widening by $0.2bn to $1.1bn. Investors increased both the gross shorts and gross longs.