Currency speculators slashed their bets against the US dollar by more than half to the lowest since January, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position dropped to $11.61 billion in the week ended August 9, from $24.80 billion a week earlier.
Speculators also turned bearish on the euro, with net shorts of 8,273 contracts. They also sharply reduced their long positions on the Australian dollar to 29,016 contracts, from almost 76,000 the previous week. To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long a currency is a bet its value will rise.