Dollar Bulls Abandon Ship Ahead of Hawkish Rate Hike
The latest Commitment of Traders (COT) report shows that dollar bulls retreated ahead of the Federal Reserve's hawkish rate hike, slashing their gross dollar long by 70% to a 15-month low of USD 5.9 billion.
This reduction was driven by short covering in the euro and Canadian dollar, where speculators bought back 15.6k contracts and 33k contracts respectively.
The yen positioning saw a dramatic bullish shift with a record two-week buying spree of 216k contracts lifting the net long to a 14-month high of 120k contracts, but this came at an inopportune time as USDJPY surged towards 158.