U.S. dollar net longs shrink to smallest since late December -CFTC, Reuters

New York (Feb 21)  Speculators further reduced bets favoring the U.S. dollar, pushing net longs to their lowest level in seven weeks, according to data from the Commodity FuturesTrading Commission released on Friday.

The value of the dollar's net long position slid to $42.04 billion in the week ended Feb. 17, from $44.51 billion the previous week. Net dollar longs declined for a second straight week.

Still, this was the eight straight week that dollar netlongs have hit at least $40 billion.

Net euro short contracts, meanwhile, continued to fall, notching 185,582 contracts, from 194,641 previously.

To be long a currency is to take 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, Canadian and Australian dollars.

Source: Reuters