(Reuters) -Speculators raised their net short bets on five-year Treasuries to the largest on record in the latest week, while bearish bets on 10-year Treasury futures were the largest since February, according to data by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday.
Net short bets on five-year note futures grew to 1,688,076 contracts in the week ending August 6, up from 1,656,038 the previous week. Short bets on 10-year note futures rose to 776,208 contracts, from 728,470, the data showed.
Bearish positions on interest rate sensitive two-year Treasury futures also rose to 1,105,211 contracts, from 1,103,672 the prior week.
The data is for the week ending Tuesday, a day after Treasury yields fell to more than one-year lows. This came on U.S. economic concerns sparked by a weaker employment report for July and due to a stock market rout caused in part by the unwind of popular dollar/yen carry trades.
Yields have since rebounded as fears of the U.S. economy entering an imminent recession were seen as overdone, while much of the unwind from the dollar/yen trades is seen as being completed.
Other data showed that net short bets on U.S. bonds increased to 57,855 contracts from 45,919. and U.S. Long T-bonds short bets fell to 376,662 contracts from 417,046.
Below is a table of the speculative positions in Treasury futures on the Chicago Board of Trade in the latest week:
U.S. 2-year T-notes (Contracts of $200,000)
06 Aug 2024 week Prior week
Long 716,311 715,610
Short 1,821,522 1,819,282
Net -1,105,211 -1,103,672
U.S. 5-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000)
06 Aug 2024 week Prior week
Long 578,521 554,750
Short 2,266,597 2,210,788
Net -1,688,076 -1,656,038
U.S. 10-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000)
06 Aug 2024 week Prior week
Long 441,721 415,036
Short 1,217,929 1,143,506
Net -776,208 -728,470
U.S. T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000)
06 Aug 2024 week Prior week
Long 339,271 325,275
Short 397,126 371,194
Net -57,855 -45,919
U.S. Long T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000)
06 Aug 2024 week Prior week
Long 159,683 147,652
Short 536,345 564,698
Net -376,662 -417,046
(Reporting By Karen Brettell; editing by Diane Craft)
