UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net longs hit highest level since mid-May, euro shorts rise -CFTC, Reuters data

(Adds CFTC table, analyst comment, byline, details of euro contracts, bitcoin futures positioning) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long positioning on the U.S. dollar rose to its highest level since mid-May, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position climbed to $18.98 billion in the week ended July 19, from $16.69 billion the previous week, CFTC data showed. Net long dollar positions have increased for a third consecutive week. The CFTC data reflected increased U.S. dollar bullishness amid expectations of another 75 basis-point rate increase by the Federal Reserve at next week's monetary policy meeting. The U.S. dollar so far in 2022 has gained 11.5% against six major currencies, on track for its largest yearly gain since 2014. The dollar index was last little changed at 106.62. For the week, however, the dollar slid 1.3%, the biggest weekly fall since late May. "Amid a backdrop of a hawkish Fed and slowing global growth, we think the dollar will resume its broad-based strength before long," wrote Jonathan Petersen, markets economist, at Capital Economics in its latest research note. In other currencies, the euro's drop to parity last week against the U.S. dollar triggered more shorts of 42,475, the largest net short positioning since February 2020. Speculators also increased their net euro shorts ahead of the European Central Bank policy meeting in which it raised interest rates by 50 bps, its first rate rise since 2011. The move to raise rates to 0% brought an end to eight years of experimenting with negative rates. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin net shorts rose to 506 contracts, the largest net short positioning since mid-January. Speculators were net short bitcoin for a second consecutive week, after being net long for 11 straight weeks. The short positioning could well reflect rising positive sentiment in bitcoin among short-term investors, who could be hedging long bets in the spot market with short futures contracts. Bitcoin has been in recovery mode this week, rising nearly 9%, its best weekly percentage gain since early April. Since the beginning of the year, however, bitcoin has fallen about 51%. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $5.358 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 42,880 35,533 Short 102,105 95,531 Net -59,225 -59,998 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $5.463 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 195,875 197,240 Short 238,620 222,484 Net -42,745 -25,244 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $4.292 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 31,943 33,850 Short 89,193 92,939 Net -57,250 -59,089 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $1.408 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 6,948 7,017 Short 17,860 15,741 Net -10,912 -8,724 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $-0.518 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 42,040 41,613 Short 35,373 38,108 Net 6,667 3,505 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $2.975 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 30,578 30,527 Short 73,726 72,127 Net -43,148 -41,600 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $0.75 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 97,965 104,715 Short 128,725 127,953 Net -30,760 -23,238 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $0.229 billion 19 Jul 2022 Prior week week Long 15,791 14,926 Short 19,462 20,209 Net -3,671 -5,283 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York Editing by Diane Craft and Matthew Lewis)