Currency speculators increased bets on the US dollar in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $14.86 billion in the week ended October 18, from net longs of $14.24 billion a week earlier. It was the sixth week of long dollar bets, after a string of net short dollar positions dating back to July 2010.
The rise was largely due to a sharp increase in short positions in the Swiss franc. Reflecting scepticism about some form of resolution to the euro zone debt crisis, speculators increased their net short euro position to 77,720 contracts from net shorts of 73,795 the previous week.
To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long is a view its value will rise. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in forex market.
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