Speculators lifted U.S. dollar bets last week - CFTC

New York (Jan 7)  Currency speculators raised their bets in favor of the U.S. dollar last week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released early this week.

The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $41.71 billion in the week ended Dec. 30, from $39.85 billion the previous week. Dollar longs rose for a second straight week.

To be long a currency is to take a view it will rise, while being short is a bet its value will decline.

The accumulation of dollar longs paused going into the last two weeks of the year as investors consolidated favorable bets on the greenback. The dollar gained 12.8 percent in 2014 against a basket of six major currencies.

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