Wednesday, December 06, 2006

A look at Amaranth's Brian Hunter

Sounds much like Nick Leeson at Barings back in 1995.

Bloomberg.com: Canada:
"Hunter, within 17 months, would be responsible for $6.6 billion in losses, detonating the biggest hedge fund implosion ever. Since Amaranth's sudden collapse, investors have questioned the unusual trust Maounis put in his star trader, now 32. They say Maounis gave Hunter too much latitude and that Hunter, trading more than half the firm's assets, was blinded by a bet that had worked like a charm for two straight years.

``Amaranth's demise is not due to some complicated quantitative reason -- it's about human failing and frailty,'' says Hank Higdon, who runs New York-based Higdon Partners LLC, a recruiter for hedge funds and other money-management firms."

1 comment:

dilbertgeg said...

Help me out here. I am NOT an investor, just very curious.

What friggin GOOD is derived from investors trading in futures markets on energy? That is, other than to drive up prices and suck out profits from consumer markets for a handful of private individuals?

I do not see it as lowering prices? Does it somehow help in acquisition and development of resources which would not otherwise be made available?