Currency speculators trimmed bets against the US dollar and sharply cut longs in the euro, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position fell to $13.02 billion in the week ended May 24, from $20.01 billion the week before and down from a two-month high of $35.01 billion in the week ended May 3, according to CFTC and Reuters calculations.
Speculators sharply cut bets in favour of the euro and shifted to a short sterling position for the first time since March. To be short a currency is to bet it will decrease in value, while being long a currency is a bet its value will rise.
The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from the net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.