S&P 500 Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large speculators advanced their net positions in the S&P 500 futures markets this week to a new bullish level, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of S&P500 futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 869 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday September 19th. This was a weekly gain of 6,708 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -5,839 net contracts.
This week’s rise in speculative positions follows five week’s of declining bets and brings the overall net position level into a bullish territory for the first time in eight weeks.
S&P500 Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -3,500 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decrease of -2,654 contracts from the total net of -846 contracts reported the previous week.
SPY (NYSE:SPY) ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SPY ETF, which tracks the price of S&P500 Index, closed at approximately $249.97 which was a boost of $1.15 from the previous close of $248.82, according to unofficial market data.