Betting on Dean

Looks like Hurrricane Dean won't inflict major damage on oil refineries in the Gulf Coast. Welcome news for anyone living in that area. Rotten news for investors long energy, particularly natural gas. Making short-term calls based on the weather seems like a particularly risky gambit. Betting on stock or commodity prices is risky enough. Throwing something as uncertain as the track and force of a hurricane into the mix seems downright wacky. A year ago, Amaranth lost about $6B due to this kind of nutty, weather bet on natural gas. Let's hope today's 14% plunge in nat gas prices won't cause any funds to go belly up. The last thing the market needs is another hedge fund blowup.