Speculators raise five- and 10-year U.S. Treasury net shorts -CFTC

Speculators' net bearish bets on five-year U.S. Treasury note futures rose in the latest week to their highest level since 2018, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

Net short positions in 10-year Treasury futures also went up, hitting their highest level since early September, according to CFTC data.

The amount of speculators' bearish, or short, positions in five-year Treasury futures (1044601NNET) exceeded bullish, or long, positions by 658,606 contracts on Dec. 6, the biggest short position for that maturity since October 2018.

Bearish bets on U.S. Treasury 10-year note futures (1043602NNET) increased to 369,206 contracts from 296,772 contracts the prior week, the data showed.

Net shorts on U.S. T-bond futures (1020601NNET) went up to 115,361 contracts from 103,917 the prior week - their highest since May 2021.

The increase in bearish position occurred ahead of a largely anticipated 50 basis points increase in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve next week.

It also follows a bond rally over the past month which was fueled by expectations of abating inflation and slower central bank rate hikes.

Below is a table of the speculative positions in Treasury futures on the Chicago Board of Trade and in Eurodollar futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the latest week:

U.S. 2-year T-notes (Contracts of $200,000)

U.S. 5-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000)

U.S. 10-year T-notes (Contracts of $100,000)

U.S. T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000)

U.S. Ultra T-bonds (Contracts of $100,000)

Eurodollar (Contracts of $1,000,000)

Fed funds (Contracts of $1,000,000)