This week's net US long dollar position was the smallest since late October when speculators' greenback shorts totalled about $710 million. To be long a currency is to bet it will rise in value, while being short is a view its value will decline. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.
Yen shorts this week hit 90,326 contracts, a more than five-year peak, from 79,466 shorts the previous week. That suggests further yen weakness could persist. "The market is treating Japan much as it did once Europe, mainly as an increasingly poor credit, translating also into yen weakness, and this driven also by potential Bank of Japan easing," said Sebastien Galy, currency strategist, at Societe Generale in New York. Euro shorts, on the other hand, continued to fall, down to 32,795 contracts this week from shorts of 66,693 previously.