Monday, May 20, 2019

Risk Off Triggers More Yen Short Covering

According to the most recent Commitment of Traders (COT) report, as of last Tuesday's trade, large speculators continued to cover short bets against the Japanese yen amid heightened risk aversion due to trade tensions between the US & China. As a result, large speculators who had been heavily positioned for further yen weakness, piled out short contracts and added a substantial amount of long positions. Non-commercial traders also piled into gold futures, helping the yellow metal stabilize recent under-performance as the risk-off trade continues to linger. Speculative positioning in the US dollar continued to be mixed vs the major foreign currencies as the DXY Index continues to consolidate recent 2-year highs.