Net long positions on the US dollar dropped in the latest week to their lowest since early October, according to calculations by Reuters and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position fell to $11 billion in the week ended May 9, from $12.7 billion in the prior week. The euro saw its first net long positioning since early May 2014 in the latest week, of 22,399 net long contracts.

The drop in the dollar's net long position and the euro's move to a net long from a net short position came after centrist Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old independent who ran on an unashamedly pro-European platform, soundly defeated anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of France's presidential election on May 7.

That led the euro to jump to a six-month high against the dollar of $1.1022 on May 8. The euro dipped the following day, however, to a more than one-week low of $1.0861. Meanwhile, sentiment on sterling improved for a fourth straight week, with net shorts falling to 46,798 contracts. That was the lowest amount of net shorts since late June 2016. 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 and Canadian and Australian dollars.

Copyright Reuters, 2017