Hedge fund bets millions on gas prices

A hedge fund has made a large bet that natural gas prices will triple by winter just as the price of the commodity slides to a seven-year low. Traders took notice last week when the fund, as yet undisclosed, spent millions for the right to buy US natural gas at $10 per million British thermal units in January and February, up from Wednesday’s spot level just above $3 per mBtu. The bet echoes purchases of call options in late 2007 to cash in if oil moved to $150 a barrel by mid-2008.