Been tough to blog today with trick or treaters banging on the door every few seconds....a solid close for the most part with nice gains in the group. Wachovia downgraded INERGY..the GP to market perform from outperform. Some late news on Atlas Pipeline and a controlling interest; that is one they've aquired!

Lots of distortions today with end of month and mutual fund end of year activity closing today. Lets see if there is some followthrough tomorrow.

A firm tone to MLPS today....no earthshattering news events nor any upgrades or downgrades. Fractional plusses dominate across the board...1 point plusses in Markwest...Strong fractional plusses in Valero LP while Valero itself is up 5. Also strong fractional plusses in Enbridge Energy with the Kramer plug and Enbridge Partners.

Morning news with earnings breaking on Holly Partners. Crude and Nat Gas are down this morning; stock index futures are higher.

Looking for Atlas Pipeline to extend its rally this week off its great earnings and the new 81 cents distribution. At 3.24 a share going foward APL's foward yield is 6.89 percent....2.30 ish above the 10 year. So i beleive one could argue that MLPS can rise as long as distributions rise at a faster rate then the 10 year to keep the yield in line.

No upgrades or downgrades so far.

Good Morning and Happy Halloween!

Some early after midnight blogging. First a recap from Friday. Cramer on Mad Money gave a ringing endorsment to Enbridge Energy (ENB) and its prospects. Stock climbed to 31 in after hours trading. We'll see if it holds on Monday regular trading. Crude is down slightly from its friday close in Sunday night electronic trading.

Please note that Monday is the last day of the fiscal year for mutual funds. I believe most of the selling and repositioning has been done earlier in the month so we could see some odd moves later in the day.

I will of course be blogging on action later this morning. Checking weekend arcticles and will post the appropriate links.

Not much happening news wise today in this group although we have some reactions.. like Atlas Pipeline Partners which continues to hit the ball out of the park...up 1 .50. Holly just upped its distribution again.

Otherwise there is a firm tone overall to the group.

We begin this morning with Teppco being downgraded by Wachovia to market perform from outpeform...note to Wachovia....you're a little late! Look for some pressure again but it could be all sold out after yesterday. It looks like dead money for awhile.

Some nice numbers by Atlas and Buckeye last night...should be moving today.

After the close...Atlas Pipeline Partners...record earnings and a record distribution...now 81 cents a share! Was worth the wait! Also earnings from Buckeye with another distribution increase.

By the way....try not to focus on the first call number because it often is not a clean number and you are never sure whether your comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges.

Heading into the close...Teppco rallying off its low near 39...good sign that it did not completely implode..Hiland up 1.25 and few other fractional plusses scattered around. Crosstex up 50 cents...x dis tomorrow. Otherwise most MLPS are a lower but not overly so.

Took awhile but Teppco now down a dollar on negative earnings. Don't forget its also ex-dis by 68 cents so its 1.68 off yesterday's close.

A few opening observations...Teppco opens flat and even with most other MLPS so at least so far earnings not a real factor. Martin Midstream up a few pennies. Markwest boosted the distribution last night by a couple of pennies and the stock is up almost 1. The group is sideways to higher so a good start.

Good Morning.

A bunch of MLPS go ex-dis this morning...Kinder Morgan (KMP), Northern Borders (NBP), Enbridge Energy (EEP) and Teppco (TTP) and Pacific Energy Partners (PPX). Teppco will also be reacting to last nights earnings which did not exactly make one want to jump for joy. Looks like its more of the same for this company and continued underperformance.

Magellan Midstream reports earnings before the open and they look good while Atlas Pipeline will report earnings after the close along with a distribution announcement.

Plains All American reports its numbers and they look good too!

Energy complex higher this morning....stocks slightly lower.

Teppco reports...31 cents...not sure if that was a clean number since there was a charge...looks like they lowered the range slightly for the rest of 05...no mention of 06.

How much of this is baked in i'm not sure...no after hour action....so far

Market Closed....Teppco earnings coming out this evening...Estimate 41 cents

Teppco making a nice run today and for the last couple of days...ex distribution tomorrow and earnings out after the close. Will monitor carefully.

Traded in and out and in again on Martin Midstream....made some nice change on the spreads. No news though the overall market seems to be giving up the ghost late in the day.

Not mcuh happening news wise...most MLPS are firm or if they have losses...they are small fractions. This in spite of the rise in 10 year rates to near 4.60%.

Good Morning,
Energy complex a little softer this morning after yesterday's big rally. MLPS did well yesterday in spite of the 10 year breaking above 4.50 yield. Distributions are growing almost across the board in the group and in some cases...like INERGY LP raising it by 20%! And thats year over year.

Some pre-market bids on Sunoco Logistics (SXL) above yesterday's close. Sometimes thats indicative of an upgrade of some sort...but no news has appeared yet.

10 year yields open sharply higher at 4.57%...looks like yields are headed for 4.75%...MLPS may have priced that all in during the correction....I still think as long as yields stay below 4.90% that the group can rally but perhaps the top will be contained.

This just in....the brains at RBC Capital Markets...who 2 days ago reinterated an underperform on SXL have now upgraded the stock to sector perform. I guess they saw something in yesterday's earnings and/or the double distribution increase.

Crude up 2 dollars...Nat Gas up 1.34....Gasoline up 7 cents...the 10 year yield is at 4.50 and attempting a breakout...and MLPS are mostly higher! They are being supported i believe by the slew of sizeable distribution increases and the initial good earnings (SXL, KMP) which were not impacted by the Hurricanes.

My MLPS portfolio has gotten back everything it lost in the last 2 weeks or so.

Thanks "anon" for the post...Plains All American joins the we're increasing the distribution chorus with the increasingly long list of others.

Hiland Partners announces a distribution increase. 11% increase to 51 cents

Good morning,

No news this morning but you have to be encouraged by the slew of distribution increases showing up. In case you missed it Sunoco Logistics just raised its distribution for the second time in the same quarter! I expect more good news to flow from the sector as well as good earnings in spite of the hurricanes.

No upgrades or downgrades so far.

Its not often you get a company that increases the distribution twice in one quarter but Sunoco Logistics pulled it off with a great quarter.

Also another increase in distribution for Martin Midstream Partners. Looks like the trend in this group in spite of all the hurricanes is these companies are having great quarters.

Nice move today...except for Enbridge everything is firm...1 point plusses in Valero LP, Plains All American, Inergy and Crosstex...strong fractional plusses all over the place in the rest of the group.

After the close earnings coming on Sunoco Logistics....will break as posted.

MLPS rallying nicely with the rest of the market. Enbridge is down 2 dollars on the Wachovia downgrade...and Sunoco Logistics is down a fraction on an RBC Capital Markets underperform reiteration...other than that its nice fractional plusses across the board. Crude lower but off the lows and XOI is up a nice 20 points.

Eyes on the tape for the remainder of the afternoon.

Good Morning.
Needed some quiet time over the weekend so i retreated from blogging. Batteries recharged!

Some leftover news from friday. Atlas Pipeline Partners coming out with earnings Friday...we should get the distribution announcement by weeks end. Also look for earnings after the close today from Sunoco Logistics. And we got a distribution hile from Pacific Energy Partners.

No news so far this morning. Lets see if the firm tone continues this week. 10 year at 4.40.
Note on the chart above that the 10 year/crude link may be breaking down here....Lets see where this goes. But its more important for the 10 year yield to fall away from 4.50 then whether crude holds 60 dollars or not. Crude now with a 59 handle.

Finally this just in...Wachovia cuts Enbridge Energy Partners to underperform from market perform.

With the 10 year yield down 5 basis points there is a decidedly firm tone to MLPS this morning. Most are slightly higher...losses are contained or in recovery mode on a few.

Bigger oils are dead cat bouncing this morning even with crude at or under the $60 level.

No corporate news or upgrades/downgrades to speak of.

Good Morning!
No news on the corporate front this morning. Oil is down under 60 bucks. Looks like the attention today will be on Google and good tech earnings so we energy MLP folks take a back seat today.

After the close....Northern Borders Partners announced its quarterly distribution. Someday this company will announce an increase in its distribution. Sadly...today is not the day.

Market selling off hard and taking MLPS with it. Crosstex (XTEX) is higher going into the last half hour as is Martin Midstream. Otherwise its mostly half point or more minuses across the board. Big oils and gas getting hit hard with the XOI down to the 905 support level. XOI is down 185 points from its high in late September...nearly 20%

Afternoon trading is on the soft side with the occasional exception. Crude and Nat Gas are down sharply...XOI heading down to the 905 support level.

MLPS seem to be holding above last weeks lows which is a good thing. Rates being contained at 4.50 on the 10 year plus distribution increases seem to be holding things here.

Magellan Midstream joins the chorus of distribution increases.

Watching the last two hours...expect it to move with the overall market.

Good Morning

Lets start with Kinder Morgan Partners which beat estimates by 4 cents...raised its distribution by a penny and said its outllook was good. It was able to have a great quarter in spite of 2 major hurricanes. This and Energy Transfer's raising guidance yesterday i think bode quite well for the group.

Also yesterday Atlas Pipeline Partners building a new nat gas plant. Still waiting for a distribution announcement.

Crosstex Energy (XTEX) is raising its distribution by 2 cents to .49 from .47. and on XTXI to .46 from .43...great news there!


Wilma still in the northwest carribbean and off its peak intensity. Also of importance is that cold canadian air will be spreading across the eastern third of the US over the weekend...driving temperatures lower east of the Mississippi...a reminder that winter is coming.

Crude is down a bit this morning; nat gas numbers out later this morning.

Going into the close...most MLPS higher...Kinder Morgan earnings due after the close. Going to a track meet , then choir practice (tenor)...will blog on results late this evening.

A firmer tone seems to be taking hold overall...my God even EXXON is up!

XOI...trying to get back to the flat line. Enterprise Products Partners finally responding to news of upping distribution and 2006 earnings.

Wilma remains a category 5 hurricane as it heads toward the yucatan channel!

Meanwhile not much happening..weekly oil numbers were bearish and group continues to sell off..MLPS showing fractional plussess and minuses. Energy Transfer up 50 cents on its raising guidance and next distribution.

A little bit of corporate news to share this morning. Energy Transfer partners raises guidance for next year and raises distribution as well....to .525 next quarter. Good news to holders there.

Crosstex says its raised 105 million for its el paso purchase. Its a priviate placement of units that convert to common after the november distribution (they will not recieve the dis)...I like priviate placements!!!!

Hurricane Wilma...the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin...which of course is George Bush's fault!

10 year yield at 4.50 is holding....down to 4.42 this morning...bullish for MLPS.

Looks like they surrendered among the big oils..40 million share block of Exxon crossed by goldman...stock is down 2 points today. XOI at 952.

Wilma forecast is for it to emerge out of the caribbean and turn it to the northeast across south florida...which of course means no impact to rigs and nat gas.

Energy Transfer started at a buy...Duetche Bank...Valero LP and Buckeye started at holds.

Like the fact that they opened all the major energy stocks at what should be there lows of the day. XOI bottom at 966...now at 972 and climbing. MLPS are mostly firm this morning. 4.50 yield seeems to be holding firm as a top at least for now.

New Hurricane Center info on WILMA due out in the next hour.

Good Morning.
Another morning starts with energy selling off a bit. Right now Wilma is strengthening but odds favor a track into the SE Gulf on a Northeast track to south Florida. But i'm still waiting for this southward drift to end and apparently it has!

No corporate news or upgrades or downgrades. Thanks to a poster who informed about Lehmans upgrade yesterday of Plains All American Pipeline which seemed to escape reporting on Dow Jones and other wires.

10 year yield at 4.50 this morning on PPI news...we're at the top of the breakout point above 4.50 yield (Chart of weekly 10 year above). Note that the real breakout on yields will occur if we take out that 4.75-4.90 top from April 2004.

Gains continue to be solid across the board and holding; infact some even adding to gains from this morning. No individual company news.

After last week its a sea of green in MLP land with gains ranging from strong fractions to 1 point or more across the board. Nothing on the news front.

Wilma getting better organized. More later.

Good Morning,
Crude Oil surging as is natural gas thanks to reaction (or perhaps overreaction?) to Tropical Storm Wilma. Be advised that some times storms that form in the central carribbean this time of year have a habit of meandering around in all directions...so until some sort of northward component of motion developes...watch and trade carefully.

Looking for a firm tone in all things energy at least to start the day.

I'm blogging while i'm working.

Time to revisit the 10year vs crude chart. A couple of things to note...First off notice that crude has been in a channel between 60 & 70 dollars since early August. And the 10 year price (inverse to yield) has been declining (yield rising). The 10 year is retesting its April bottom as crude retests 60. I would argue that we are still linked...that is crude is linked to yield. As crude rallies yields fall. The bond market is essentially saying that 60 dollar oil is the point where there is economic impact. If crude rallies this week...and one catylist could be a new tropical storm or hurricane for the Gulf Of Mexico...look for 4.50 yield barrier to hold and for MLPS to end their correction and begin moving higher.

A saturday evening post...since it looks like we could have a major hurricane in the northwest carribbean which may eventuallly wind up in the gulf of mexico. Could be a catylist to rerally the oil and gas group starting Monday. This is just a depression now and it will be a very slow mover all week.

I'm working on some charts and will post about them between now and monday afternoon.

XOI at 967...making a run for a intraday reversal..trading below yesterdays's low..though 983 would be a takeout of yesterday's high and unless we get massive short covering that ain't gonna happen. XNG held the 89 moving average...which is one i use...i'll explain in a later post why 89.

Most MLPS are green with a few exceptions.

From 1098 intraday to 938 intraday...that is 160 points from 9/23 to 10/14...roughly 15% correction in the XOI.

The Atantic Asset MLP index actually peaked back in July but i don't have a figure...the September high was 378.80 in early September. I don't have October figures but i'm working on it.

XOI now +4.07...need a close above 973 for an intraday reversal.

XOI now flat on the day....could we have finally hit bottom???

Sorry about the lack of comments this morning but i decided i couldn't sit around and watch this so i went to the gym and killed myself aerobically....Now i'm back...missed the XOI low at 938...now at 954. XNG the nat gas index however has gone higher and without Valero at least for now.

The 10 year at 4.50 at least not preventing the group from trying to bounce and some are...Valero LP is +1 as is Hiland...Sunoco Logistics is up 50 cents.

News from Teppco...distribution coming...no increase...stock down.

CPI numbers have turned 10 year yields down. This takes away an important negative against the group. 4.50 has held so far.

Crude and Nat Gas down sharply but EXXON is not down much in the pre-market.

Good Morning.
Energy complex is down this morning so they'll probably be more selling at the open...add to that the inflation numbers this morning which will dictate the direction of the 10 year and we have another day of volitility. This group now is so oversold we are overdue for a big rally.

I've been trying to find an MLP index to use as a benchmark and i seemed to have succeeded. I am trying to see if its available daily. I'm not sure of the exact makeup.

7 days in a row of rain here in NY....Noah had 40...but the sun will be back tomorrow!

I was perusing the message boards on yahoo and i am amazed that post after post on APL and XTEX for example asking the question why are these stocks down..there must be something wrong. Excuse me but are you people living underground for the last 2 weeks.....apparently they don't know it but there is a correction and a sharp one going on in everything energy. They are one of the few groups that are up across the board this year and it looks like everyone seems to be running out the door to book profits while they still have any.

So there...no corporate news...just a wholesale correction!!!!

Well they couldn't bring them back to the flat line but at least they bounced em off their lows. Still finishing they day with substantial hits among many MLPS. A few of the better performers today still finished with half point or more losses. No winners in the group at all.

Still the XOI is over 960 which is 18 points above the low at 942...hopefully this is the end of the decline.

Big oils are rallying off the XOI 942 low which on the chart is in an area of logical support. We're back to 962...the question is whether this rally holds into the close. So far the buying has not spread into the MLPS. 1 minute chart shows a beautiful W shaped bottom put in between 11am and 1:30 pm.

Devestation...or some great bargains or both....red everywhere. 1 and 2 dollar losses not uncommon. If you look at past corrections...the big wipeouts have come at the end of sell-offs not the beginning...so hopefully we're seeing capitulation here and prices will come back in the last hour or 2.

forever the optomist.

Looks like the numbers were about neutral...nat gas bearish...crude flat to bullish. Looks like a rally off 960...so far so good.

If the rally holds look for buying to spread into the MLPS

Looks like the numbers were about neutral...nat gas bearish...crude flat to bullish. Looks like a rally off 960...so far so good.

If the rally holds look for buying to spread into the MLPS

For those of you who have some guts....there are some bargains to be had here...Magellan Midstream is back to 32...Hiland is down to 38 with a 2.00 annual payout. The backdrop of the rising 10 year is an issue...but then again there is always an issue somewhere.

Lots of red on the screen for MLPS...lets see what happens after 10:30am numbers.

The open is sending us down for the most part....the odd gainer is only up by pennies. Energy Transfer down 77 cents...Looks like the stocks and the XOI retesting last week's low (XOI at 961). I guess the 10:30 API stats will be the point where we either breakdown or reverse.

Fasten Seat Belts!

Check out the 10 year chart especially the weekly...approaching 4.50 where we reversed last time.

Good morning.

10 year yields approaching 4.50 this morning and this I believe is putting at the very list an upside lid to MLPS prices. Overall market looks to open down (always like down opens better than up opens in a sell-off...better chance for a rally) Crude is slightly higher.

No news this morning on the corporate side.

Except for Crosstex (XTXI) and Enbridge (EEP)...MLPS are a sea of red. Rates on the ten year are over 4.40% adding pressure on the group.

Crude is up 80 cents as of post time and major oils are lower, XOI is down 10 points.

Hope everyone likes the tickers...and check out Poor & Stupid...a new blog addition.

Crude is up...nat gas slightly higher...ten year yield is over 4.40 which to me signals some caution for MLPS.

Most MLPS are lower. CROSSTEX (XTXI) is back to 65 and not far from a new 52 week high...Crosstex LP (XTEX) is down however.

Energy Transfer is down 1...lots of fractional minuses elsewhere. XOI down 4...dow has just turned higher again.

No news of importance.

I've added stock tickers so that at least while you are here....you can see MLP prices crawl across the top. If you see any missing...let me know and i'll add.

Meanwhile Enbridge got an upgrade this morning from BMO...not sure who they are. Otherwise we're watching paint dry in the meantime.

Crude still up 12 cents.

Good Morning.
No news to speak of this morning..no one has been upgraded or downgraded. Crude and Nat Gas are slightly higher so far.

Over the weekend Cactus Jack (always inciteful) on the yahoo Northern Borders Message Board expressed his opinion on certain MLPS and their outlooks. Its worth a read. Also i added "BETWEEN THE HEDGES" and TRADER MIKE to the link page. Worth a look and will be adding more as i find good ones.

Firm in the energy complex...XOI holding over 1000 which is psychologically okay. MLPS flat for the most part. Northern Borders Partners down 50 cents.

The whole complex is higher with the occasioanl exception. XOI back trying to move decisively over a thousand...if crude goes +1 or higher on the day...i think the XOI will continue to sawtooth higher.

Teppco's neutral rating from CSFB is good enough for .27!!! Going nowhere fast.

Finally am getting around to adding a few more financial links to the blogroll..Feel free to link.

Good Morning,
Crude and Nat Gas are rallying sharply this morning..$60 crude appears to be holding for now.

CSFB starts TEPPCO, PLAINS ALL AMERICAN, AND NORTHERN BORDERS at Neutral and KINDER MORGAN PARTNERS at outpeform.

Exxon is up 50 cents in the premarket.

Selling pressure has overtaken the tape this afternoon. Most MLPS are lower but not by too much. OIL and NATGAS remain soft.

Oil and Gas complex selling off today so the stocks are following. MLPS however seem to be firm for the most part...nothing huge. The ones that are down are not down by too much. No important news on the corporate front.

XOI down 10 points this morning but MLPS for the most part doing fairly well. Crosstex LP (XTEX) is up .62 is among the bigger winners. Volume overall is thinner than usual. Most of the moves this morning are small fractional plusses and minuses.

Good Morning.

Columbus Day so trading will be a little lighter than normal and atl least the overall market has a bit of an upward bias. Crude is flat to slightly down, Nat Gas is down 22 cents as of this posting.

Another upgrade for INERGY LP this time its the boys at Raymond James upgrading it to strong buy.Not much else is happening yet.

Heading into the close...MLPS are strong..1 point plusses in Crosstex (XTEX) and Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL)....strong fractional plusses in just about all the others including Teppco Sunoco Logistics and Energy Transfer.

Looks like this actually wasn't bad news...Harris Nesbitt and Raymond James reiterate their outllooks on Crosstex...+4...XTEX +.47.

Energy rally holding its own....hoping to see a last hour run over 1000 on the XOI.

In a blink of an eye...Crosstex (XTEX) has come all the way back to 37.44 down just a few cents...XTXI is now +2

Approaching lunch time...rally in tack...looks like a normal oversold bounce so far. XOI making a run for 1k again. Has until 4pm to get there.

XTEX and XTXI are both 1.43 change from yesterday...the first is down...the second is up. News for both is the same. XTEX had a big movement of stock on the sell side that took it to 35.34 at the low...now back in the low 36's. TEPPCO is up .70 from yesterday.

Here is a Morningstar piece by Pat Dorsey on wide moats...mentions a few MLPS.

Well Crosstex LP XTEX held up until a few minutes ago and has now imploded into the 35-36 area....while Crosstex XTXI is up 1 and change.

Go figure!

News on Crosstex was pretty much a non event. In fact XTXI is actually up 1 and change...the LP down a fraction.

Energy getting a well deserved bounce this morning. I would love to see the XOI finish the week over 1000...that would be psychologically supportive.

Good morning.

No corporate news so far this morning but it looks like we're setting up for a nice bounce rally in the energy stocks today as they have gotten sold off very hard this week....some majors like exxon down 15 percent in a week!

Watching the Crosstex reaction to its news last night.

Crosstex broke news after the close that on first glance sounds like bad news. The company used puts to hedge it gas purchase from El Paso and has a loss of 11 million dollars. It also withdrew its guidance for the remainder of 2005.

"As part of the overall risk management plan related to the acquisition of the El Paso assets, the Partnership acquired puts, or rights to sell a portion of the liquids from the plants at a fixed price over a two-year period beginning January 1, 2006. Because the underlying volumes relate to assets which are not yet owned by Crosstex, the puts do not qualify for hedge accounting and will be marked to market through the Partnership's consolidated statement of operations. The amount of the mark to market adjustment to be recorded in the third quarter is currently expected to exceed $11 million. This amount will not affect Distributable Cash Flow for the year ended December 31, 2005.As part of the overall risk management plan related to the acquisition of the El Paso assets, the Partnership acquired puts, or rights to sell a portion of the liquids from the plants at a fixed price over a two-year period beginning January 1, 2006. Because the underlying volumes relate to assets which are not yet owned by Crosstex, the puts do not qualify for hedge accounting and will be marked to market through the Partnership's consolidated statement of operations. The amount of the mark to market adjustment to be recorded in the third quarter is currently expected to exceed $11 million. This amount will not affect Distributable Cash Flow for the year ended December 31, 2005.
But upon reading the press release the company makes clear that distributable cash flow will be uneffected by this."

So since MLPS live and die by DCF it appears to me that any short term hit the stock takes tomorrow should be contained. Perhaps i'm reading a positive spin into this because i'm long the stock. But the company goes on to say.

"Due to the unpredictability of the potential fluctuations in the put valuation until closing, when hedge accounting can be applied to the put valuation, the Partnership is withdrawing its guidance on net income for 2005. The Partnership will resume guidance on net income in 2006. The Partnership's Distributable Cash Flow guidance remains in place at $49.1 million to $55.5 million for 2005, and depending on the date of the close of the El Paso acquisition, Distributable Cash Flow is expected to increase for the portion of the year the assets are owned."

Note the last line...DCF is expected to increase once they own the assests. The news broke at 5pm and there were no after hours trades. I guess we'll know tomorrw morning but im going to guess we'll take a hit at the open but it should be managable.

Any other views appreciated.

Looked like a washout today in energy and in most stocks as a rally ensued in the last half hour to take stocks off their lows and energy stocks also rallied back. MLPS usually the last to sell off and so they should uptick tomorrow.

Well they are trying to stand em at 960 on the XOI...now at 975

Well so much for the several attempts today to rally the energy stocks...they just gave up the ghost and imploded after 2pm. XOI at 960 at 3:40pm

Lots of 1 and 2 point losses across the board. Even NRGY which got an upgrade this morning gave up the ghost. I actually have one thats still up...MARTIN MIDSTREAM up a nickle...but there is still 20 minutes left.

No real earth shattering corporate news to report. Another bounce has begun from the 960 low.

All things energy are back to the lows of the day. Will address some specific issues later.

NRGY is the only winner today among a sea of losers. Energy Transfer does what at always does when its near a bottom...it implodes briefly...at one point it was down to 31.65 off 3 on the day before rebouding to 33.90.

Group looks like its near a short term bottom here...there have been a few rally attemps but lets see what the last hour brings.

I am always amazed at how quickly bearish everyone gets in these sharp correcitons. A good sign...and i like the down opens as they keep tossing em out the window. XOI down 12. Crude down 1.59.

Just got my electric bill from my evil electric company...i had a 2 month fuel oil surcharge of $232!!

Good Morning.
Crude trading lower this morning and in the pre-market ExxonMobil is down about 35 cents. I tend to like lower opens higher closes reversals on volume as a sign that the correction is over. We'll see.

Wachovia upgrades INERGY L.P. to outperform this morning. Tropical Storm Tanya is inland in Georgia.

I have noticed in corrections that MLPS are the last to sell off. That sell off may have begun late in the day yesterday. When you sell you sell the high risk stuff first and if you still have to sell you save the best for last. So we could be close to a trading rally in the oils. XOI is down 100 pts from the high..nearly 10%; most of that in the last 2 days alone. Look for a lower open and then a rally attempt.

Doesn't get much uglier than this. Closing down 4% on back to back days. MLPS sold off late but it was orderly in the group for the most part. No big volume. Tells me most holders are calm and holding things pretty tight to the vest.

8% drop in oil and gas group...we're entitled to a bounce soon.

Selling energy stocks like they are going out of style...throwing them out the window here in the last hour. Picking up some bargains! For speculators...some XOM OCT 60 calls here might be worth a shot...but be in and out quick.

XOI down 40 points..over 4 percent

Big correction continues in the big oils and big gas. Valero down 5 and change for example. However MLPS continue to hold up very well in here. Some are lower by fractions but volume is light. No breaking news this afternoon.

Another 3 percent correction underway in the big oils...XOI -29 points and approaching 1000 on the index very rapidly.

Another one of those buying opportunities!

INERGY (NRGY) made another propane purchase yesterday and now says 06 earnings will be 42-50 million. This is a headline. Will post link to the full story when available. Also another puchase announced today on top of yesterday's buy. Purchases are immediatley accretive to earnings.

Another Tropical Storm has formed but this one should stay on the Atlantic side.

Good Morning.
In an effort to improve...i will be adding addtional links over the next several days. I will of course inform as i add.

In the face of yesterdays 3 pecent sell off in Oil majoirs (XOI) and nearly 4% in Gas majors (XNG) MLPS not only held up well...some were exceptional like Valero LP. Missed an upgrade by Key Banc/McDonald of Sunoco Logistics from hold to buy.

No news to speak of this morning so far

3 percent correction in the big oil stocks today but it doesn't seem to be impacting the MLP group too badly. In fact Valero LP is up .76 while Valero (VLO) is down 3. Also up are Buckeye Partners, Sunoco Logistics and a few others...the losers aren't down by much...save for Crosstex (XTXI) down 1.71 but Crosstex (XTEX) LP is down just a quarter.

Big oil and gas stocks getting hammered today. XOI -23 points. XOM -1 and change. KMI down 1 and change.

Most MLPS are lower by fractions with a few exceptions. Crosstex (XTXI) -2 while Buckeye (BPL) and Sunoco Logistics (SXL) are up 50 cents or so each!

Looks like energy stocks are down today...nothing extraordinary...just on the soft side. No additional news breaking so far.

Good morning.
First off sorry about yesterday. Running around Manhattan all day is not always fun and on top of that i had a head cold. But things are getting back to normal and i'm better today.

Not that i missed much yesterday in the land of MLPS. Up a little..down a little. A couple of notes. The ten year note yeild is back up to near 4.40%. Chart above is the 10 year note price and notice the downtrend. Looks like we may be near another leg down in price...up in yield. I would worry about impact if we get above 4.75%. Yields on most MLPS have been inching higher on a relative basis. Distribution increases may be offsetting some of the rate pressure. Perhaps thats why these stocks have for the most part been going sideways since July.

Also note the other chart posted is the Crude/oil 10year which is one of my personal favorites. Note that the relationship of rising crude/falling yields may have been broken at least short term. Rising crude..falling yields would imply economic pressure being caused by high energy prices (recession). The oppposite implies upward pressure on prices (inflation). Trading focus short term seems to have shifted to the latter. But these things are very fluid.

No corporate news to speak of this morning although from yesterday Sunoco Logistics said things are getting back to normal from rita. One important note however is that another big merger in the energy field with Chesapeake Energy buying Columbia. This comes after a big merger on Monday of NRG buying Texas Genco. Mergers in energy are probably going to pick up steam in the 4th quarter so don't be to surprised to see something break among MLPS.

Blogging will be on the light side today...got a doctor appointment. Will post when i can