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A natural resources fund of hedge funds managed by USD3.1 billion Swiss firm Harcourt Investment Consulting has performed poorly since it launched earlier this year, prompting the fund to reassess its allocation strategies.

Inflation traders in the U.S. are honing energy trading skills, on the back of fuel-price induced volatility in the front end of the inflation market.

In 2004, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association formed a committee to draft a form of credit-default swap for asset-backed securities with a view toward jump starting the synthetic ABS market.

IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank is widening the scope of its alternative investment group mandate in Asia.

Lehman Brothers has brought aboard Levan Shanidze, v.p. and equity derivatives trader at JPMorgan in Hong Kong, for a similar role.

The leverage factor on leveraged super senior structures is around 20 times--double the standard 10 times--as firms are looking to extract juice from tightening spreads in the senior tranches of CDOs and lure investors.

Leveraged super-senior tranches of collateralized debt obligations which reference synthetic asset-backed securities figure to take flight as shops with significant mezzanine ABS inventory are eyeing the play as a way to offload senior risk from their books.

The damage felt by CDO investors exposed to U.S. auto parts marker Delphi Corp. was lessened by managers who traded out the name from portfolios before it hit rock-bottom.

Credit-linked note baskets incorporating both ABS and corporate names have emerged in Korea, as investors search for yield and diversification.

Merrill Lynch's Ken Chang, co-head of Pacific Rim equity derivatives strategy in Tokyo, has joined hedge fund Oasis Advisors as a senior strategist in Tokyo.

Client demand is driving dealers to look at ways of pricing options on stock dividends.