Hedge funds feeling natural gas sting
Amaranth reportedly may have lost 35 percent as prices plummet; other losses seen.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Amaranth Advisors is the latest hedge fund to take a hit on falling natural gas prices, possibly having lost more than 35 percent of the fund's investment, according to reports Monday.

"Last week, the Amaranth multi-strategy funds experienced significant losses in their energy-related investments following a dramatic move in natural gas prices," Amaranth said in a letter to investors obtained by Reuters.

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One trader said the loss could be devastating to Amaranth.

"That's a huge hit for a hedge fund to take," said Brian Hicks, co-manager of the Global Resources Fund at U.S. Global Investors. "That could drive a lot of the shareholders out."

A Denver-based analyst said rumors were circulating that another, larger New York-based hedge fund could be in a similar situation.

"I think the[re]'ll be some more stories emerging around [Amaranth]," said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at Fimat in New York. "We're waiting to see who else is getting taken away in the ambulance."

Natural gas prices dropped near 12 percent last week and have fallen roughly 20 percent since the start of the month as an anticipated active hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico has so far failed to materialize.

Amaranth has $7.5 billion in capital under management, according to Reuters.

Amaranth's reported loss comes on the heels of MotherRock L.P.'s closure last month after that hedge fund suffered major losses in the natural gas market.

MotherRock had $430 million in assets under management at its height, according to an earlier report in The Wall Street Journal.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.