Dollar shorts extended, also against GBP – Deutsche Bank

IMM data suggests that investors further extended their short US dollar positioning to a new multi-year high with implied USD shorts as a fraction of open interest inching up to 25% from 24%, points out the research team at Deutsche Bank.

Key Quotes

“Long positioning in GBP continued to build despite the less constructive price action. Investors also added to their long positioning in EUR. Bearish sentiment prevailed among the safe haven currencies as investors extended their shorts in both JPY and CHF. In the Antipodean currencies, investors' long interest in AUD declined moderately from a four year peak while NZD net longs remained unchanged. Investors further extended their long positioning in CAD to a fresh multi-year high levels. Elsewhere in MXN, investors extended their longs modestly.”

“Traders in Financial Futures data suggest that leveraged funds extended their implied dollar short positioning at the margin while asset managers trimmed their short exposure by a sixth. Both communities trimmed their longs in EUR moderately. In GBP, leveraged funds extended their longs by about three quarters while asset managers' short exposure declined marginally. Leveraged funds continued to add to their bearish JPY positions aggressively whereas asset managers extended their shorts by more than a fifth. Leveraged funds cut their longs in CHF while asset managers extended their shorts moderately. Among the commodity currencies, leveraged funds extended their longs in AUD and CAD while trimming their longs in NZD. On the other side, asset managers trimmed their bullish positioning in CAD while flipping their long AUD positioning to short. Asset managers also added to their short NZD exposure at the margin.”