Bullish on the Buck

Whenever pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies decide they should own dollar assets that are out of favor with hedge funds, the hedge funds lose.

Institutional investors bought more dollars than they’ve sold this year, according to State Street Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the largest money managers for institutions. That’s significant because speculators such as hedge funds raised bets against the greenback by 36 percent, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington show.

History indicates institutional investors may be on to something. The dollar gained in 71 percent of the quarters over the past decade when they were net buyers, according to Boston- based State Street.