Bets against sterling hit record level

Data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange showed speculators had extended bets against sterling to 76,745 contracts from 72,188. This is equivalent to $6.9bn (£4.7bn), in the week ending May 18, the Financial Times reports. While activity on the CME represents a fraction of the daily turnover on the world's currency markets, the paper says the data is widely regarded as a proxy for hedge fund activity. It was the fourth consecutive week speculators increased short positions in sterling, taking the ratio of short-to-long positions to nine-to-one.