CFTC Positioning Report: JPY net longs in multi-year highs

These are the main highlights of the CFTC Positioning Report for the week ended on August 20:

• Speculators kept adding longs to the already positive stance in the safe haven JPY, taking net longs to the highest level since early November 2016. Increasing concerns on the US-China protracted trade war and its impact on global growth kept the demand for safe assets unabated for yet another week.
• RUB net longs shrunk to the lowest level since March 12. In fact gross longs extended the downtrend for yet another week, exacerbated at the same time by the recent fresh round of US sanctions.
• EUR net shorts receded to multi-week lows, as market participants appear to have shifted their focus to the likeliness of further easing by the Fed rather than keep adjusting to the prospects of looser monetary conditions by the ECB as soon as next month.
• GBP net shorts receded to 3-week lows following some tepid hopes that a ‘hard Brexit’ could be avoided eventually. Despite this correction, the sentiment around the Sterling remains fragile to say the least.