OUTPERFORMANCE CONTINUES &
DISTRIBUTION HIKES!

Monday morning on a week where we will hear from suspect mlps that will cut payouts. However we have some leftover news from Friday as Magellan Midstream Partners hiked its payout for the umtheenth time in a row. This morning we have news from Inergy LP(NRGY) which is lifting the payout and Inergy Holdings (NRGP) which is also hiking its payout. Both stocks are among the better performers during this nightmare. BTW the yields on the GP and the LP are about the same here...around 11 percent which may mean an opportunity in the GP. That yield in today's mlp world is very reasonable.
Now we have the MLP vs S&P chart. I know i have been harping about this but in this 3 month chart note the huge gap between the 2 around December 23 where the S&P outperformance gap was over 15 percentage points. Well since then the MLP index has not only closed that entire gap but it has pulled ahead. And since January 1ST the MLP index is up nearly 11% on the year!!! I know i keep harping on this but i think we may have crossed a major turning point here and mlps are so underpriced relative to everything else that they just have to rally...or at least go down less than everything else if the market implodes.

No other corporate news this morning and no upgrades or downgrades so far. Stock futures were even this morning until Catepillar rained on the parade. Crude oil is up this morning and we may have put in a tradeable bottom in the low 30s. We'll see what happens when we get near 50 bucks again.

We have breaking headlines from Energy Transfer Partenrs (ETP) and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) as they put out their distribution numbers. They kept ETP the same but ETE holders get a payout boost. The press release says the increase "was principally the result of the recent ETP equity offering" The release states the importance of staying prudent during these turbulent times...this statement was made in reference to ETP.

We may get breaking headlines so i will keep my eyes open and post as they cross.