These are the main highlights of the CFTC Positioning Report for the week ended on February 9th:
- Net longs in the British pound climbed to levels last seen nearly a year ago around 21.1K contracts. The UK vaccine rollout continues to outperform its peers and along with some positive results in the domestic docket and the likeliness that the BoE will not implement negative rates in the short-term horizon sustained the firm demand for the quid and opened the door for a move to the key 1.40 level in GBP/USD in the not-so-distant future.
- Speculators trimmed further their net longs in the Japanese JPY, taking them to levels last seen in mid-November 2020. The favourable context for the risk complex plus higher US yields have played against further inflows into the safe haven currency.
- USD net shorts rose to 4-week highs amidst persistent risk-on mood sustained by the reflation talk, vaccine rollout and solid expectations of a strong recovery in the global economy.
- Crude oil net longs increased to multi-week highs following the upside momentum in the risk universe and the exacerbated (exaggerated?) demand for commodities, in general.
- Gross longs and shorts in EUR rose a tad and pushed the net longs marginally above the previous week’s readings, always in response to the better sentiment surrounding the riskier assets.
