FIRST DEAL OF 2008

Sem group Energy Partners (SGLP) gets the deal wheels going here as it is aquiring assets from Sem Materials which part of the priviately own Semgroup. It might move the stock but i doubt it will have any huge impact given the overall enviornment. Stifel Nicholas is starting coverage on K-SEA Partners (KSP) with a buy. The stock has been sinking lately along with every other MLP. I took a look at the chart of Constellation Energy Partners (CEP) which had only a handful of trades yesterday and noticed the stock is down 13 days in a row! No news in that stretch, no downgrades, nothing. 13 days in a row and nothing resembling an uptick. Its just one example of the kind of enviornment we are in.

We are coming close to a slew of distribution increases, some already indicated and some not. Its going to be interesting to see what that does to some of these that are carrying near double digit yields and 500 point spreads to treasuries. If that doesn't spark some sort of return to the mean i'm afraid we're in for a long period of a grinding down of a growling bear for the group.

Stock futures suck this morning indicating a 100 point down open. Energy not doing very much but that has ceased to matter lately. The 10 year is at 3.73%.