Francesco Pesole, an FX strategist at ING, notes that the data published by the CFTC shows the speculative investors curtailed their net short exposure to sterling between 4-10 December, bringing the net short positioning below 10% of open interest for the first time since May.
- "It is key to highlight that the move (+4% of o.i.) in positioning does not embed the election results, so expect the positioning indicator to advance further towards the neutral area in the next CFTC report.
- These sort of dynamics likely spell the end of the sterling short-positioning “advantage” that has exacerbated the upside movements in the currency a number of times in the past few months. This does not mean, however, that a neutral positioning may in any way curb more upside in GBP; we continue to see the balance of risks for EUR/GBP tilted to the downside in the remainder of the year, even after the post-election move."