Nasdaq shorts are at the highest level in a year while bets versus the USD pulled back prior to last week’s reversals. Large speculators (non-commercials) in the Loonie and Pound made the most significant moves in the FX market, according to the latest CFTC IMM report through last Tuesday (June 6th).
Gross long positions were trimmed vs the greenback with exception to the Loonie, which may partly explain last week’s (USD) minor recovery. Treasury speculators continued to grow gross shorts heading into last week and were finally rewarded as US treasury yields managed to bottom off the year’s lows. Both ES (e-mini S&P 500 futs) and NQ (e-mini Nasdaq futs) were mostly unchanged on a net basis, as both gross long and shorts positions were added.
Nasdaq gross shorts, however, grew to their highest level in nearly a year, which may have contributed to Friday’s strong pullback. Lastly, large speculators in both Gold and Crude Oil futures grew gross short positions more than gross longs, allowing relatively elevated net long positions (by percentage) to pull-back slightly.
