USD longs reduced, EUR buying extended - ANZ

The research team at ANZ lists down the CFTC positioning data for the week ending 2 May 2017.

Key Quotes

“Leveraged funds extended their bearishness on the USD for the second consecutive week, reducing their overall net long position by USD3.7bn to USD12.6bn. Weaker-than-expected US economic data, including advance Q1 GDP, contributed to the unwinding of USD longs. However, since then, the Fed’s downplaying of the soft patch in Q1 and a decent April payroll report are likely to have provided support to the funds’ long USD position.”

“EUR saw the largest net buying in the run up to the final round of French Presidential elections. Funds reduced their net short EUR position by USD4.1bn to USD8.4bn, the lowest shorts in five weeks.”

“Meanwhile, funds bought GBP for the third straight week. Overall net short GBP positions were reduced by USD0.6bn to USD1.4bn, the lowest short position since 28 June 2016 (right after the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016). Net short CHF positions were also cut by USD0.5bn to USD1.4bn, reversing three consecutive weeks of net selling.”

“After five consecutive weeks of net buying, funds turned net sellers of JPY, reducing overall net JPY longs by USD1.1bn to USD1.7bn.”

“Net selling of commodity currencies continued for the second straight week. This was primarily led by AUD and NZD, which saw net selling of USD0.3bn and USD0.1bn respectively. This took net long AUD positions to the lowest since 24 January 2017, while net short NZD positions were the highest since October 2015. Meanwhile, CAD saw marginal net buying despite poor price action.”

“EM currencies reversed seven consecutive weeks of net buying. Funds reduced their net longs in all three currencies (MXN, RUB and BRL) by a combined USD0.2bn.”

“Net long UST positions were trimmed by 41.8k contracts after reaching its highest level, since March 2008, in the previous week. Meanwhile, net long crude oil and gold positions fell for the second week running, in line with a further drop in the prices of these two commodities during the week.”