Short bets in five-year Treasury futures largest on record, CFTC says

(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)