Bloomberg – A hedge fund, whose name isn’t disclosed, has placed a large bet that natural gas prices will triple by the Northern Hemisphere winter just as the price of the commodity slides to a seven-year low, the Financial Times reported, which cited New York Mercantile Exchange traders.

Last week, the fund spent millions for the right to buy U.S. natural gas at $10 per million British thermal units in January and February, up from yesterday’s spot level of just above $3 per mBtu, according to the report.

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Tags: bet, commodity, exchange traders, financial times, hedge fund, mbtu, natural-gas-prices, new york mercantile exchange, new-york-mercantile, northern hemisphere winter, slides, york-mercantile-exchange

Bloomberg – The steepest plunge in crude prices on record may be setting up oil investors for a rally this year, if history is any guide.

The so-called forward curve of futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange suggests oil will rise 30 percent to $60.29 a barrel by December. The curve looks almost the same as 10 years ago, after Russia’s default and the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management LP hedge fund raised concerns that a global economic slowdown would reduce energy demand. Crude prices fell 25 percent in the final quarter of 1998, the steepest drop in seven years.

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Tags: 10-years, collapse, crude-prices, energy demand, forward curve, futures contracts, global economic slowdown, investors, long term capital management, long-term-capital, new york mercantile exchange, new-york-mercantile, plunge, rally, russia, seven years, york-mercantile-exchange