Investing.com - The Investing.com weekly sentiment index published on Monday revealed that speculators scaled back their bearish bets on the U.S. dollar in the week ending May 13, as a recent batch of improving U.S. economic data prompted traders to bring forward their expectations for the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
According to the report, 37.8% of investors held long positions in EUR/USD, falling from 39.5% in the preceding week.
Meanwhile, 39.1% of market participants held long positions in USD/JPY as of last week, down from 40.5% a week earlier, 41.3% of investors were long GBP/USD, compared to 37.5% in the previous week, while 47.3% of investors were long USD/CHF, increasing from 44.9%.
Amongst the commodity-linked currencies, 37.3% were long USD/CAD, deteriorating from 39.5% a week earlier, 49.2% held long positions in AUD/USD, compared to 55.2% in the preceding week, while 44.6% were long NZD/USD, down from 46.0% a week earlier.
The report also showed that 54.9% of market participants held long positions in gold futures as of last week, dropping from 59.9% in the preceding week.
Elsewhere, 37.5% of investors were long the S&P 500, compared to 38.2% a week earlier.
A reading between 50%-70% is bullish for the instrument, a reading between 30% and 50% is bearish, a reading above 70% indicates overbought conditions and a reading below 30% indicates oversold conditions.
The Investing.com series of indexes is developed in-house. Each index measures overall exposure to major currency pairs, commodities and indexes, using data from futures exchanges and OTC providers on all long and short open positions.