Yen Speculative Positioning Hits New Lows

The CFTC data for the week ending [date of data] shows that non-commercial traders increased their net short yen positions to ¥-63.3K, up from ¥-52.9K in the prior reporting period.

This indicates that leveraged funds and other speculative traders are increasingly betting on further yen depreciation against the U.S. dollar, reflecting growing market expectations of a wide interest rate differential between Japan and the United States.

The yen has been one of the weakest major currencies in recent years due to the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy and Japan's economic fundamentals, including a trade balance that has swung to deficits and sluggish domestic demand.