Specs pare U.S. dollar bets; longs lowest since early Nov -CFTC

San Francisco (Mar 7)    Speculators further trimmed bullish bets on the U.S. dollar in the latest week, with net longs sliding to their lowest in four months, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.
The value of the dollar's net long position slid to $11.60
billion in the week ended March 4, from $13.77 billion the
previous week. That was the smallest net long on the dollar
since the week of Nov. 5.
    Short-term investors have reduced long positions on the
greenback for a fourth straight week, with the recent run of
weak U.S. economic data weighing on dollar sentiment. Economic
weakness could temporarily halt the Federal Reserve's ongoing
bond-purchase tapering plan, a negative scenario for the dollar.
    But Friday's higher-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls
report could stem the slide in dollar net longs, which would
show in next week's futures data.
    Overall, investors have been running long positions on the
dollar for 18 consecutive weeks. The last time speculators were
short the greenback was in late October.
    To be long a currency is a view it will rise, while being
short is a bet its value will decline.
    The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar
position is derived from net positions of International Monetary
Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc
and Canadian and Australian dollars.
 

Source:  Reuters