New York (HedgeCo.net) – The latest commitment of trader’s reports on Friday showed that large speculators have differing opinions on two of the three main indices at this time. The mini S&P futures show a net short position of 116,649 contracts and that was a more bearish stance than the previous week, but not as bearish as the group was as a whole one month ago when they were short approximately 180,000 contracts.

On the other hand, the mini-Nasdaq futures show a net long position of 78,979 contracts from large speculators and that was down slightly from the previous week’s net long position of over 90,000 contracts. The net long position from two weeks ago was the largest net long position since March 2014.

The large speculator group represents hedge funds and other large institutional investors. It isn’t surprising to see the group more optimistic toward the Nasdaq as the index has outperformed the S&P so far in 2015 with a gain of 6.5% versus a gain of less than one percent. However, over the last three weeks, the Nasdaq is down 3.36% while the S&P is down 2.38%.

Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest