3 May 2016
CFTC weekly summary - ANZ
Analysts at ANZ Bank offered the positioning data that is for the week ending 26 April 2016.
Key Quotes:
Leveraged funds have gone short the USD for the first time since July 2014. The USD selling was across all the major currencies, totalling USD4.1bn in the week (see Figure 3 in PDF). The positioning data was prior to the FOMC and BoJ decision. Given the sell-off in the USD following the CFTC cut-off date, leveraged funds likely added to their short positions.
EUR saw the largest net buying against the USD at USD1.3bn. This reduced leveraged funds’ overall net short positions in EUR from USD6.5bn to USD5.2bn.
The rally in commodity prices led to strong net buying of AUD totalling USD1.2bn. The other commodity currencies saw smaller net buying. Leveraged funds are now long AUD to the tune of USD4.6bn, the most since September 2014. Among the major currencies, leveraged funds have the second largest net long exposure to AUD after JPY.
There was an increase in net long JPY positions by USD0.3bn to USD5.2bn ahead of the 28 April BoJ decision. The surprise decision by the BoJ to leave policy unchanged at that meeting led to a sharp rally in the yen, and we can expect the next CFTC report to show a large increase in long JPY positions.
Short GBP positions were reduced by USD0.9bn to USD2.4bn. A resurgence of the ‘remain’ camp in the latest Brexit opinion polls likely contributed to the GBP position adjustment.
EM currencies were the only ones not to have seen net buying against the USD. MXN recorded net selling of USD0.2bn as leveraged funds turned net short. RUB saw marginal net selling while BRL had a small increase in its net long position."
Key Quotes:
Leveraged funds have gone short the USD for the first time since July 2014. The USD selling was across all the major currencies, totalling USD4.1bn in the week (see Figure 3 in PDF). The positioning data was prior to the FOMC and BoJ decision. Given the sell-off in the USD following the CFTC cut-off date, leveraged funds likely added to their short positions.
EUR saw the largest net buying against the USD at USD1.3bn. This reduced leveraged funds’ overall net short positions in EUR from USD6.5bn to USD5.2bn.
The rally in commodity prices led to strong net buying of AUD totalling USD1.2bn. The other commodity currencies saw smaller net buying. Leveraged funds are now long AUD to the tune of USD4.6bn, the most since September 2014. Among the major currencies, leveraged funds have the second largest net long exposure to AUD after JPY.
There was an increase in net long JPY positions by USD0.3bn to USD5.2bn ahead of the 28 April BoJ decision. The surprise decision by the BoJ to leave policy unchanged at that meeting led to a sharp rally in the yen, and we can expect the next CFTC report to show a large increase in long JPY positions.
Short GBP positions were reduced by USD0.9bn to USD2.4bn. A resurgence of the ‘remain’ camp in the latest Brexit opinion polls likely contributed to the GBP position adjustment.
EM currencies were the only ones not to have seen net buying against the USD. MXN recorded net selling of USD0.2bn as leveraged funds turned net short. RUB saw marginal net selling while BRL had a small increase in its net long position."