U.S. dollar net longs hit highest in seven weeks -CFTC

New York (Jan 16)  Currency speculators increased their bets in favor of the U.S. dollar this week to their highest in about

seven weeks, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.

The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $46.96 billion in the week ended Jan. 13, from $44.23 billion in the

the previous week. This was the highest net long dollar position since the week of Dec. 2.

Dollar longs also rose for a fourth 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 Swiss franc continued to pile up short positions of 26,444 contracts or about $3.2 billion at the exchange rate of

Jan. 13. That's the highest net short on the franc since June 2013.

That short could change dramatically next week following the Swiss National Bank removing the cap on euro versus the franc,

resulting in steep losses in both the single European currency and the dollar.

Euro net shorts have also increased to 167,851 contracts, or

about $24.7 billion.

    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