Two Chicago hedge funds hit hard by energy trades

The fear of various hedge funds taking huge losses, which ripple through the market, is here to stay. So we can probably just get used to news item likes the following: Institutional Investor notes that Citadel Investment Group and Ritchie Capital Management reportedly lost an estimated $250 million due to natural gas and electricity trades, which may have been effected by Katrina. Both firms were relatively new to energy, entering the trading arena in the past few years. Three top traders have left the firms.

> Here's the Institutional Investor item.
> Here's more from the Chicago Tribune.