Opalesque – Most hedge funds focusing on the region benefited from the increasing oil price and the strengthening rouble in April. Those who did hence survived 2008, which proved to have been almost lethal as some had to restructure and block redemptions.

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Tags: hedge funds, oil-price, redemptions, rouble

Investors Chronicle – 2008 witnessed a boom and bust of monumental proportions in the junior mining and oil and gas sectors. From being among the London market’s strongest performers, driven by record commodity prices, resources stocks plummeted out of favour even more rapidly to languish among the market’s laggards.

Although strong recovery is unlikely in the short term, the longer term outlook for resources remains bullish. The world will run on oil for many years to come, and analysts estimate a $70-80/barrel oil price is needed to drive sufficient exploration and supply to satisfy likely demand when economies recover. Growth-driven Asian demand for all commodities, though slowing, has in all probability built up an unstoppable momentum.

Supply-side constraints plus the possibility of a weakening dollar and further falls in equities will create upward price pressure on oil, gold and other commodities. Commodities may start to recover during the year, depending on the severity and duration of the recession. Even if they don’t, continued low prices will deter exploration and development, and cause supply shortages, which will simply store upward price momentum to be released when economies eventually do recover. What’s more, the depth of the current downturn suggests that post-recession demand could rapidly create supply pressures, an over-correction and renewed price shocks.

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Tags: barrel oil, boom and bust, commodities, commodity prices, downturn, gas sectors, investors chronicle, laggards, london market, monumental proportions, oil and gas, oil-price, price momentum, price shocks, recession, severity, side constraints, supply shortages, term outlook, unstoppable momentum

New York Post- If the Securities and Exchange Commission expands its clampdown on short-selling, it is widely expected to slam hedge funds like Stephen Cohen’s SAC Capital and James Simon’s Renaissance Technologies, which profit from fast-and-furious trading, experts predicted.

That’s because under the long-accepted rules of the short-selling game, these hedge funds, which often trade through sophisticated computer programs, have been able to skip the process of borrowing the shares needed to cap off their short positions.

But that luxury is now being challenged by the SEC’s mandate requiring investors who short 19 financial stocks, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to borrow the shares they short before they bet against the stock whose price they predict will fall.

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