LAST DAY OF Q1...LETS RALLY?

Why not. We finished off the lows of the day yesterday and MLPS actually managed to cut their losses to 3 points and some change. So this morning we are starting on a rally with the dow futures up 75 points. Crude is also up 1.50 as of this post. So lets hope that yesterday was a one day correction and that the rally phase that began 2 weeks ago will resume today.

No corporate developements this morning and no upgrades or downgrades so far. I have an early day heading out to a job (whoppee!!) so i shall post later today when i get the opportunity.

MLPS have been in a tight range since lunchtime showing losses between 4 and 5 points on the index. Its now nearing thay 5 point loss. Dow went to minus 305 at the low a little while ago and now upon lifting my head i see its back there again.

Ugly out there. Crude down 4 dollars and back under 50 bucks.

MLPS are down 2 1/2% on the index; just under 5 points. The DOW is down 270 or 3 1/2% so we have relative outperformance. Dow is sitting at 7500 as of this post. Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) and Cheniere LP (CQP) are the only 2 mlps up small fractions and they are both under 5 bucks anyway. Everything else is down and a number of mlps are shedding between 75 cents and a buck and a half. No corporate news.

The GM mess overhangs today so lets continue to chew through the mess.

MONDAY MORNING BLUES ON GM OUSTER
AND OTHER ISSUES

Futures taking a beating this morning of 19 points on the S&P as markets react to all sorts of stuff from the Rick Waggoner ouster at GM by our dear President. That's got all kinds of tounges wagging about socialism from the administration. Some are saying its blackmail among other things. Or maybe its the Kremlin. Markets aren't thrilled; thats for sure. Memeorandum has extensive coverage this morning.

Meanwhile this morning the charts are ambiguous at best on what is going to happen. MLPS have been moving sideways for the most part while the dow continues its rally from 6500. Of course that rally gets interrupted this morning and extends Friday's losses.



Since we are in rally mode lets see where we finish today and not where we start. If buyers truly have gained the upper hand here look for a floor to be hit at some point this morning and a climb back this afternoon. At least thats the ideal scenario. More wall street news this morning and perspective at 24/7 Wall Street.

MLPS are newsfree this morning and so far nothing on the upgrade downgrade list. Crude is down a buck and a half this morning but still holding above 50 bucks. Commodities as a whole are down and the dollar is up against the euro and down against the yen.

Looks like we will be going out close to the lows of the day across the board. Good week for the overall market...mlps...not so much.

Dow down 172 and mlps down 3 and some change. Looks like all of the market gains from yesterday are being un-done. And MLPS which closed flat yesterday are continuing to perform relatively weak as has been pointed out in an earlier post.

Steifel Nicholas downgrade victims Alliance Resource(ARLP) and Alliance Holdings (AHGP) are among the biggest losers today down 1.74 and 1.00 respectively. Nustar (NS) is also a 1 point loser as is Boardwalk (BWP) although Boardwalk was up 1.65 on what turns out to be a 1600 share market on close order that went off a buck higher then the trades at 15:59pm so its just getting that close undone. Its trading in line with where it traded most of yesterday.

Martin Midstream (MMLP) and Inergy Holdings (NRGP) among the few fractional winners today.

ARE WE BEGINNING TO LAG THE RALLY?

Steve posted that idea yesterday in the comments section. Lets discuss.

Something is definitely not right in MLP land again. The relative outperformance we saw the first 2+ months of the year has stopped and we have begun to lag the averages. Either the averages have gotten fluffy and we are keeping to a base line, or something less sanguine is afoot.

Steve is concerned with the relative underperformance and this week we have seen the mlp index go nowhere while the s&p is up 6%. Certainly disheartening when you consider the rest of the market. On the other hand mlps have been an outstanding outperformer in the last 3 months with a nearly 20% relative outperformance and total return for 2009 of about +15%. Should we worried by this weeks action? Perhaps we should be a bit concerned. One never wants to see underperformance. But could there be some other reasons why this is happening. I propose 2 ideas. One is that a number of mlps that actually have a price attached to them..that is higher than 15 bucks have done offerings. The latest was Buckeye (BPL) yesterday which was down 2 points on its latest stock offering. And based on the last rebalancing of the mlp index BPL has an over 3% weighting. Plains All American (PAA) and Inergy (NRGY) have also done stock offerings and the 2 have a combined weighting of over 8%. So certainly we can say these stock offerings have caused a distortion.

What could also be at play here is end of quarter and it could be that we are up so much for the year; players are moving out of mlps and into other things that have a long way to catch up. Ultimately that game plays itself out in a few days and we will be left with the basic question unanswered. Steve goes on to say...

I'm going to be really disappointed if in the next market downdraft we find that we are giving it all back - or worse, leading the market down. If we have topped out and are rolling over, we may lead on the downside.

Should we be worried? Well we should always be worried. But there are enough positives out there including a firmness in the crude price to give us a little bit of space. All will be resolved in the fullness of time but Steve correctly points out that we should be on watch.

Well we have arrived at the end of the week and the end of the quarter is next Tuesday. So i would look for markets to correct the move but with a firm tone. 875-900 is a doable target on the S&P and 205 on the MLP would be logical. Stefil Nicholas is cutting Alliance Holdings (AHGP) and Alliance Partners (ARLP) from buy to hold. Crude is down about a buck this morning and stock futures are down 10 points on the S&P as we see profit taking after the big moves this week.

Adding 24/7 Wall Street to the blog roll. Like the look of the blog and there looks to be some good pieces there. Plus he posted about an mlp (BPL) which means he is okay in our book!

Here is that smart money piece on mlps. I found the link that one our posters lost.

Buckeye(BPL) is down 1.84 as it adds shares to its offering and prices it at 36.25. Its a drag in the mlp index a bit as it is up a fraction. Most MLPS are actually fractionally higher as we head into lunchtime. The dow is up 80 points or so as it continues to build on the mommentum moose.

CNBC ALERT...MLPS going to be discussed sometime between now and 11am. I will post the video asap.

Buckeye (BPL) trading down nearly 2 dollars in the premarket on the secondary. Seems a bit much since its just a 2 million share sale but it is the pre market. Stock futures near their highs of the day with the dow up 80 points and 54 above fair value.

IMPRESSIVE YESTERDAY AFTER THE INTRADAY SELLOFF PLUS THE LATEST FROM THE LAND OF GASBAGS!

From a 200 point gain at lunch time the market proceeded to sell off nearly 300 points to an almost 100 point loss as we headed into the last hour. And then as some critical points on the S&P were getting breached the ship turned rapidly around and we finished up nearly 100 points.



MLPS of course followed along and went from plus 2 to minus 2 to nearly plus 2 at the close. Crude yesterday also staged a reversal after bearish api numbers. So the tape is certainly signally that the bulls are in control and we are headed higher from here certainly in the short term. The mlp index is beginning to get above its moving averages which is a great sign however we need to see the lines cross as we have been at this point before, only to see the selling resume. This time my guess is we are going to be successful.

No news this morning and no upgrades or downgrades so far. Buckeye Partners (BPL) joins the list of mlps doing offerings as they come to market with a secondary. With a nearly 40 dollar stockprice you can do those sorts of things. Stock futures are stronger this morning along with higher energy as they continue to move together.

I pulled this from Bloggingheads tv and its worth the watch. It was from the congressional hearing (again) the other day. Our dear Maxine Waters is asking Mr Geithner about that infamous Goldman Sachs conspiracy which is right up there with the Kennedy conspiracy and the Oil Company conspiracy. Pay attention to 2 things. First off watch the looks on Geithners face throughout all this. You know he wants to slap her and then duct tape her mouth shut. And then watch the ticker scrolling other news on the bottom of the screen and the words "braindead" move across. Hilarious!

Kind of reminds you of the battle between bulls and bears. Just don't mention the war!

Dow up just under 200 after strong durables and stronger than expected housing numbers. Crude was down before API numbers and is now rallying back to the flat line even though the numbers were in line bearish. MLPS are up with the index up just over 2 1/2 points. Almost the whole group is higher although we don't have any 1 point plus winners right now. Nustar (NS) Buckeye Holdings (BGH) Alliance Resource (ARLP) and Enbridge (EEP) lead the way higher up major fractions.

FOR ALL THE WORK IN THE RALLY WE ARE STILL JUST BACK TO THE NOVEMBER LOWS

We have gone from 660 to 825 on the S&P and yet when you look at the chart we haven't really done much unless you want to argue that we are essentially going sideways since November. If that is the case then 900 is doable on the S&P on this rally leg. And the tape in my view certainlly feels so much better. So the path of least resistence continues higher short term.


MLPS are up 10% for the year which is nice plus we have a distribution in hand giving us 12% plus total return depending on your holdings of course. The mlp landscape continues to remain littered with mlps that trade with penny stock handles. 15 mlps/gps sell for under 10 dollars which is still below the high of 24 back in November. On the other side of this 13 mlps sell for above 25 dollars. New money in my view should be put into those mlps who have no danger of distribution cuts. Putting them in the ones that have 1 and 2 handles is literally a casino bet. However one should note that there could be big gains for you if you can find the one that does eventually recover.

Not much news on the corporate side this morning. We have an insider buy of 4000 shares at Ferrellgas (FGP). Otherwise its inventory numbers for crude today which is down ahead of the number. Stock futures a little higher this morning but not by much.

Some blog stuff this morning..love the cartoon at Naked Capitalism this morning. A bit of Canadian perspective here. Also in case you haven't had enough of gasbags going on and on we have live streaming of todays round of gasbags here.

Now in case you missed it there was this fabulous exchange yesterday.
Gentle Ben get pissed off or at least as pissed off as you will ever see the fed chairman. Remind me never to ask him a "poorly posed" question.

MLPS with double digit stock prices seem to be running to the well. Teekay LNG Partners comes to market with a stock offering of 4 million shares.

Market gave it up in the last half hour but nothing overally tragic. MLP index closed down a little less than 2 points.

MLPS holding up well today with the index down about 1 point as the dow pulls back about 70. Not bad really after a 6 point mlp index gain and a 500 point dow gain yesterday.

Nustar (NS) Holly Partners (HEP) and Genesis (GEL) are fractional winners. Otherwise moves are small in either direction .Oneok (OKS) Suburban Propane (SPH) Transmontaigne (TLP) and TC Piipelines (TCLP) among the fractional losers.

Waiting for the Washington gasbags to be done with another round of absolutely endless testimony. I guess its our only chance to see Barney Frank and Maxine Waters blather on and on and on.

INERGY PARTNERS LP DOING AN OFFERING
BECAUSE THEY CAN. DOES THE RALLY EXTEND?

Usually when the markets rally big like they did yesterday and close right at the high of the day, we see some sort of consolidation or pullback the next day and we see weak futures at the open. We had another 90% upside day yesterday on some volume so the overall trend short term remains higher. And taking out 805 on the S&P was a good thing so it looks like the wind overall continues to be at our back and MLPS should follow along.

Inergy Partners (NRGY) is among those mlps that has held up well over this horror show. So since they actually have a stock price they can work with its time for another offering of shares. The stock is down 1 in the pre market this morning. Thats about it on the news front so far this morning. Nothing on the upgrade downgrade list. Stock futures a little weaker after yesterdays 500 point dow gain. No surprise here. Energy a touch softer too and we have inventory numbers out at 10:35am.

Looks like Nustar Holdings (NSH) has broken out of a beautiflul looking base!

Proctologist exam for those among you who were curious. My prostrate was as he described it..a "thing of beauty. Perfect and tiny!" I have been drinking a combination of fresh pure pomegranite and blueberry juice every day for the last couple of years. He said keep doing it. Also as an italian cooked tomatoes are good. I was breast fed on that and wine!

MLPs soaring with everything else. The index is up nearly 6. The dow up 260. All mlps are up today which is always nice to see. One thing ive noticed is that my portfolio value is the same today that it was when the dow rallied to 9000 at the very beginning of this year. So with the dow 1400 or so points lower my valations are about to break out to a 2009 high! Divergence. Nustar (NS) is up 2. Holly(HEP) Boardwalk (BWP) Enbridge (EEP) Oneok (OKS) and Alliance (ARLP) up 1 point or more.

Take a look at this Morningstar piece on carried interest and mlps. It makes the case that GP's or general partners that trade might be gobbled up by the LP's as they could be fundamentally cheap.
Magellan (MMP) has already pulled the trigger with regards to Magellan Holdings (MGG).

Futures still holding on to a 200 point dow gain.

FUTURES RALLY 200 POINTS ON BANK PLAN
SO THE RALLY GOES ON!

Nice to wake up on a Monday morning with big plus signs on the futures. We will be getting back all of Friday's losses and then some as the market reacts to the bank plan. And it seems its happy that they finally actually have some sort of basic workable plan and we can go foward.



MLPS took it on the chin for 5 points on Friday but we are still in a good place in this base that is being built. Chart does look much better than the dow and i guess we need to see us take out the 200 level to breakout of the base. Last Friday i noted some individual mlps look like they are putting in bases and a few have some breakout points to watch for.

Energy is up a touch this morning and i would continue to expect crude to move in tandem with equities. No corporate developements and no upgrades or downgrades so far this morning.

This is my last day of a work stretch and i also have to see one of those doctors a guy sees when he hits 50. I wonder if i should show up with flowers and chocolates? I just hope he has a sense of humor. Can't stand physicans who don't know how to laugh!

ANOTHER UP DAY FOR MLPS

Charts on a daily basis continue to repair themselves but what is interesting to me is how much better mlp charts look when compared against the dow industrials. The dow is so far showing us nothing more than a bounce off that 6500 low but the mlp chart is in basebuilding mode.


I am putting up some charts of some of my holdings here and these individual charts to me are setting up for some upside breakouts. Of course we are going to need this rally to build up a head of steam and take us back to the low 8000s on the dow. Not impossible if sentiment improves.






I don't know. Are we seeing cup and handle formations? They should be resolved one way or the other fairly soon.

Not much else happening this morning with stock futures up. Crude is down a buck. The dollar is rallying this morning. So lets finish out what has been a decent week.

CRUDE OIL BREAKING OUT OF A BASE..
ENERGY COULD RUN TODAY!

The rally from the feds move yesterday has changed a few things overnight and one of those things has been a selloff in the dollar. This has in turn put a solid bid under crude this morning which has now broken out above the 50 dollar level and it appears that we are emerging from a base as shown by the USO chart. No such breakout evident in natural gas as we actually are still struggling not to make new lows!



I would think that energy stocks will run today as oil rises and this should put a bid under mlp stocks. Futures on the market as a whole are a little higher and there is a sense in my view that some optimisim is creeping in here. Barrons in their free tech piece yesterday points out that things may be improving and that the bear may finally be getting tired.

No corporate news items this morning and no upgrades or downgrades yet on the tape. I've been working this week so my apologies as blogging has been a bit light. I will attempt to post early this afternoon.

The mlp index has gone from minus 3 to less than a 1 point loss and back over 190. Financials gaining a head of steam in here today. Energy coming off the lows.

Interesting day so far with the dow down 100 points and the MLP index down nearly 3 as energy is down a bit. Financials however are diverging and are up today. This may be another clue that the pullbacks in here are taking a different flavor. Something to keep an eye on.

Not many mlps are up today; just a few showing small gains. Atlas Energy Resources (ATN) and Martin Midstream (MMLP) showing 50 cent gains. Losers are down mostly less than 1 point. Some of the big boys showing losses on the order of 50 to 75 cents which is depressing the index. No real news drivers out there on the corporate side.

THE REVERSAL WAS REVERSED YESTERDAY...ROOM FOR HIGHER PRICES?

Yesterday's rally was a nice one as the market ran to the highs of the day. Mlps which never really sold off too much the day before closed up 2 points yesterday, underperforming but i think it was a case of playing catch up.



It seems that markets want to go higher and you can sense that when you get these pullbacks. Gains from prior days are holding. Intraday sell offs are small and being met with demand. So we remain cautiously optimistic.

Crude is pushing up to the 50 dollar level where there is a bit of a wall. Inventory numbers are out today so they should be a mover. Nat gas remains depressed at 3.84 this morning and no sign of a rally there. So mlps will probably move in the general direction of the markets. No news in the group this morning and no upgrades or downgrades.

I am trying to gather some clues as to which mlps that are sitting in the land of penny stocks warrent a longer term second look. Lots of insiders have been buying lots of shares in Crosstex Energy (XTEX) so maybe the view there could be that that the company is doing everything to insure survivial. No sign of insiders stepping to the plate in the likes of Atlas Pipeline (APL) Constellation Energy Partners (CEP) and some others. Its a dice roll certainly to take a position in any of these but if you had to bed i suppose its better to go with the company where the insiders are placing some sizeable bets.

MLPS HOLD ON TO GAINS AS MARKETS REVERSE

2PM yesterday afternoon the market began a reversal which ended with the dow going from plus 160 to minus 7. MLPS went from plus to plus 3 and change. The lemmings are running around this morning saying this may not be good. No shit sherlock. I however am thinking that 900 points in 5 trading days is a pretty big move and a pause was in order. If markets can hold in here we could still have some upside ahead of us so i am remaining hopeful.

No news this morning. Caught this item on Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) that Moody's is mulling a downgrade. A stroke of brilliance there. Plains All American (PAA) is doing a public offering of shares as they take advantage of a relatively high stock price. When your stock trades for 37 bucks a share and you sell a few million units you can raise a nice piece of change. 5 millions shares coming to market.

Crude staged a reversal of its own yesterday from down 2 to up nearly a buck by days end. Off a few pennies this morning. The tone in this market to me is turning increasingly bullish. Not much else going on this morning.

I have some school stuff going on later this morning and working this afternoon so i shall check in later.

MLPS are shining today up 5.50 on the mlp index and we have solid gains across the board on most issues. Nustar (NS) is up 2. Inergy Holdings (NRGP) Oneok (OKS) Buckeye (BPL) Enbridge (EEP) Natural Resource (NRP) Kinder Morgan (KMP) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) all up 1 or more. Just a handful of issues are down and outside of Holly Partners (HEP) which is down about 1 point the other losers are down pennies.

Crude oil which was down over 2 dollars has turned higher by about 50 cents which is good to see off the opec news on no additional cuts. Bullish reaction to bad news is a welcomed positive.

RALLY EXTENDS FOR A 5TH DAY!

Who knows when the last time we had 5 up days in the dow. S&P and nasdaq but we seem to be on good footing this morning with dow futures up nearly 80 points. It may be a bear market rally but it is a rally and we still have upside...maybe to dow 8000 ish and S&P 810 ish. MLPS on the chart looks a little more bullish to me with a nice base being constructed with the 170 level holding nicely. Now we seem to be rising to the top of a channel. Low 200s is certainly do-able.



This morning begins for mlps quietly in a news free enviornment. Nothing on the upgrade downgrade list. Crude is down this morning as OPEC decided not to cut production any further for fear of hurting the global economy.

So lets get this new week underway. We have options expiration to look foward to among other things.

In case you missed it scroll down to the prior post where i link to a list of the top 100 business blogs. I've added links to the top 10 on the blog roll. Check them out. Some of them are very good. In case you missed it here is the Ben Bernake 60 minutes show last night.

Here is a list of the top 100 business blogs. I have added the top 10 to the blog roll for easy reference. If you find a blog in this list that you think is good, or perhaps you have found one somewhere else...please share it with me and i will add it to the blog roll.

Check out the insider buys at Crosstex Energy LP (XTEX) and Crosstex (XTXI). Lots of shares but the stocks are both under 2 dollars. You have to wonder if conditions improve and this one survives it could be a big winner. But it is a risky bet.

Also Transmontaigne (TLP) has seen alot of insider buying lately as well. Just put in the symbol to get the info.

I've haven't been posting insider trades lately because we had a whole slew of them last year and frankly if you had sold on those insider buys you might have saved yourself a lot of money. But i have noticed lately some insider buying going on over a number of mlps. Maybe this time around they will be right if market conditions improve.

We had a nearly 3 point gain on the index earlier which then went to a nearly 3 point loss and now we are just off fractionally. Looks like the market is consolidating the gains of the last few days which is a good thing. We're shooting for 4 up days in a row in the dow s&p and nasdaq and that has not happened since...are you ready for this...December of 2007! 15 months!

EV PARTNERS SURE KNOWS HOW TO HEDGE! STOCK CALLED UP 3 BUCKS AS THE MLP RALLY AND THE MARKET RALLY CONTINUES!

Quarterly earnings from EV Partners was a whopping 6.88 a share and 11.14 for the year

Now of course much of this was due to hedging and the company apparently did a terrific job hedging during the oil price decline from 148 to 35. More importantly if you strip out the numbers to the bare bones they look very good in this enviornment. The stock closed yesterday at 13.88 and is bid 15 offered 16.37 this morning with no trades as of this post. And the chart looks like it is another one of those in the mlp group which is building a base. Could today's news cause us to break out of the base?

I put up a chart of the dow industrials on a weekly basis. We may be seeing a weekly reversal pattern here which at least may be indicating a trend change for the short term ( means we can go up for awhile!). Stock futures are higher this morning so at least the rally with legs will continue this morning. And we will close up for the week which hasn't happened in awhile!

Crude is up again this morning after a nearly 5 dollar gain yesterday. Nat gas is adding a few ticks as it tries to nose back above 4 dollars. Certainly feels better to blog under a positive tape than a negative one! Nothing on the upgrade downgrade list so far this morning.

Here is this weeks free article on the market technicals from Barrons. He argues the S&P can rally back to 805 in this leg as we make a transition from decline to sideways on the charts. We can only hope but the rally does seem to have some decent fire power behind it.

Up over 10 points on the MLP index as stocks are running into the close up 250 on the dow. Magellan (MMP) Buckeye (BPL) Nustar (NS) Sunoco Logistics (SXL) and Kinder Morgan (KMP) are up 2 or more. Transmontaigne (TLP) is up a whopping 3.40 and is today's biggest winner. No news there. Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) and Atlas Pipeline Holdings (AHD) are up 18 and 39 percent respectively as they are among those in penny stock land.

MLPS are approaching an 8 point gain as the dow is up 160 and approaching 7100. Solid 3 day rally underway and MLPS are leading the way. One of our readers this morning pointed out that Global Partners (GLP) was on the verge of breaking out of a base and i would agree with that.

THE RALLY SEEMS TO HAVE SOME LEGS

After slightly lower open we've turned it around and the dow is now up 100 points and back over 7000. And the mlp index is doing well today up 3.50 and getting close to the 180 mark. First time since January that we may actually string together 3 up days in a row for the market. The mlp index was up 4 in a row at the end of last month as we are faring better and we are now back up on the year! Glory!


Global Partners (GLP) is the biggest winner today up 1.70. Kinder Morgan (KMP) is up 1.40. Nustar (NS) Oneok (OKS) and Buckeye (BPL) up about 1 apiece. Global put up solid earnings numbers this morning.

A few mlps are showing small fractional losses but nothing tragic for the time being. Crude is up 1.70 as it gets tries to get back yesterday's 3 dollar loss.

MLPS OPEN 4 POINTS HIGHER AS MARKETS TRY AND STRING 2 UP DAYS IN A ROW.






Took a look at a few mlp charts among my own littered bunch and i keep seeing these basing formations forming and building. Not sure how much confidence if any to have in all of this but it its encouraging to see that some mlps have not gone down to make new panic lows and in fact among the distribution payers who have maintained those payouts; it looks like those lows might actually hold!

Meanwhile after yesterday's rally it looks like some buyers have shown up to make it the potential for 2 in a row. 7000 was tested this morning and we'll see if buyers can take it above there today.



Sort of a news free morning in MLP land so no real drivers other than the overall market. Buckey (BPL) and Oneok (OKS) lead the winners list up 2 point apiece. Plains All American (PAA) is one of the few losers down 40 cents.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners (EROC) puts out earnings after the close.

Market closes up 379, MLP index closed up just shy of 7 points and off the highs as crude sold off late. Again i'm not attaching any significance to this until we string together a bunch of up days in a row.

An up day! Oh boy forgot what that was like. Dow up 320. Nasdaq up 75. MLPS were up 8 but then crude sold off on some ridiculous report that crude usage was going to fall this year( from the school of the obvious) so that caused energy stocks to come off a bit. Crude down 1.30 but it is up 10 dollars or so from the lows in the mid 30s.

No mlps are down as of this posting...all are up. 14 are 1 one point or more. Teekay Offshore (TOO) is a big percentage winner up one and change at 11. Kinder Morgan (KMP) and Oneok (OKS) are up 1.50 each.

Looks like we're running into the close which is nice but don't wake me up until we put 2 or 3 of these back to back and we at least get back over 7200.

MAYBE TODAY?

With Asia (ex Japan) doing well last night we wake up to stock futures up sharply this morning with the dow futures up over 100 points. Will it last? Who knows! The market changed directions intraday yesterday 25 times which is incredible when you think about it and ususally happens when we are putting in some sort of tradeable bottom which is all this will be if it happens. Still a vicious rally is very much a possibility and if it materializes it could be another opportunity...to sell!

Not much on the board this morning otherwise. No news items and no upgrades or downgrades. Crude is up a little this morning after putting together a couple of up days. Nat gas was under 4 yesterday and has yet to come off the floor. MLPS which were down a little yesterday should follow along and if the market rally is something to sink your teeth into, then i would look for mlps to outperform the market.

Working this morning so i will post later.

Not much happening today as the markets tug back and forth from the flat line. Energy stocks up a little. MLP index down a little over 1 point. No real standouts. Holly Partners (HEP) is down 1.69 among the biggest losers although there is no news in here.

Crude at least closed up and not far off the highs of the day. Whoppee!!

WAS THE LAST HALF HOUR FRIDAY REVERSAL MEANINGFUL?





No. Juding by the futures we will have a down open but as of this post not a big one as the futures are significantly below fair value. Nonetheless we keep harping on this idea that there should be a monstrous vicious rally that could start at anytime. It will probably be another one of these ultimately meaningless bear market bounces that takes the pressure off for a day or two. And we are at a point right now where mlps are down on the year and getting ever closer to its November low. Still we are down much less than everything else. Total return right now on the index is about -3 percent or so. Whoopee.

No news this morning so far of any consequence. Crude is high as it builds on last week's gain. Nat gas is sitting at 3.95 this morning which is almost surreal. But then again everything these days is surreal. Hopefully this week is the week that our comrades in Washington DC will instantly solve the problems here in the U.S.S.A.

Louise Yammada speaks and we shall of course listen!

Finally CNBC has allowed us lowly bloggers to embed their video. Glory!

IF ONLY WE HAD ONE OF THESE
WE COULD ERASE THE LAST 21 MONTS!

Never being a conspiracy theorist...i always thought they were fun but i also felt they were exercises in attempted elitism by the believer. The idea is that they know something that no one else does making them feel for lack of a better word...special. Well i am beginning to wonder and wonder out loud whether there is some truth somewhere in here. Take a look at these two stock charts. The one above is Smith & Wesson. The one below is Sturm Roger and Co. Its the only stock on the NYSE at 52 week highs.



The company makes firearms and revolvers. Does this say something about what is really happening here.
And what about Washington? I am beginning to believe that the Obama administration has but one goal in mind and that is to bring the financial markets and the economy to its knees. Get things so bad that only government can rescue us. Is this an attempt by the left to gain complete control of our economic lives by simply using the circumstances to destroy the capitalist system and replace it with a government controlled slave state? Sounds nuts? The dow just broke 6500 and 15 of the 30 dow stocks have broken below their November lows. Most dow stocks are now selling for toddler handles or even less in the case of Citigroup.

Louise Yamada is looking at 4000 on the dow and 400 on the S&P. I am beginning to think she is right and it may be at least 1 or 2 generations before we ever see new highs again. We may all be dead by then. Makes you wonder when gun and weapons stocks are breaking out on the charts while everything else is breaking down.

MLP index down 7 and 163 and the down is down 115 as of this posting. But then again you really don't need me to point that out.

Dow down nearly 100 to 6500. MLPS down 6 to 164. Down down down. UGH!

What else is new?

MLPS HOLDING THAT 170 LEVEL WHILE THE DOW SINKS TO A 65 HANDLE, NOW ITS THE JOBS REPORT AND WAITING FOR THE VICIOUS RALLY!


Like Santa Claus yes i do believe a vicious rally is coming. It will be fun to watch but it will mean nothing like the others. MLPS went to 171 and held there at the close which is a minor victory. Not much else to say really. Crude is up over 44 dollars and i get a feeling that the bottom in crude may be in.

Hiland Partners (HLND,HPGP) posted earnings last night. Nothing unusual to note and the company reminds us they have a takeover offer on the table and no guarantees on how thats going to turn out. So we wait for the open and go from there. Maybe the market can find some footing after the numbers are out. It could be another one of those days where the worst has been discounted.

Your K-1s should be arriving now as we get tax filing season underway. Lots of fun folks but remember Turbo Tax allows for downloads and could prevent some headaches. Use the comments section for any questions. Somebody should have an answer for you.

Noticing as i scanned some of the message boards that the anger level is very high. Instead of talking the specific company the discussion often shifts to politics and Washington. Shows you where we are these days.

thanks to Josef for this as The Daily Show skewers CNBC. To be fair some of this is taken completely out of context. Financial news is a lot more difficult to report and deliver than the "if it bleeds it leads" type of news. Still it is funny! Love the FUCK YOU ending!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

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Okay kids..lets have some fun while markets implode. Read the following and then some thoughts!

Interesting read from Roubini who pretty much states the obvious. The US is effectively insolvent!

Down 100 right now on the dow. MLPS down around or a little less than 2 points on the index.

NEW DAY BUT ANOTHER SINK HOLE!

One day rally of 149 points and thats it? Well it seems to be at least at the start this morning with futures down over 100 points. The world is fretting about General Electric which sits with a 6 handle. Ford is going to sell equity so let the fools get in line. GM may not survive much longer. And of course we have employment numbers to look foward to tomorrow. On the mlp front we have Hiland (HLND,HPGP) earnings after the close today. That 9.50/3.20 takeover offer is looking mighty good these days.

Not much else happening on the MLP tape. After yesterday we're back up on the year when you look at the index. If you are in Crosstex or Atlas Pipeline your not! One thing's for sure. If these companies can somehow survive all of this..then one day these single digit stock prices will have been gifts of a lifetime. In the meantime there is no reason to hold an mlp if its not paying a distribution. Hence the world of penny stock land!

Crude is down a buck and a half after yesterday's big rally of nearly 4 bucks. Ho-hum. You can gather by my tone; its just not fun doing this when day after day after day, its gloom and doom, gloom and doom. The ingredients remain for a really vicious rally of maybe 1000 points on the dow but nothing happening to light the fuse.

Last night after the close we had earnings from Martin Midstream (MMLP)

Okay so we're enjoying a rally of 140 points and mlps up 6 and back over the 2009 flat line. Ho-hum...duh and all the other descriptors you can come up with.

Magellen (MMP) is down 2.25 on news its swapping shares for Magellan Holdings (MGG) which is up 1 and some change. Otherwise mlps are bouncing with everything else.

Crude is up 3.58 which certainally adds to the idea that crude has put in some sort of bottom in the mid 30s. Those lows have held. But crude won't get anything sustainable accomplished unless stocks put in a floor. There needs to be something which suggests that the economy is making some sort of a bottom or will make a bottom in a few months. No sign of that yet.

TIME FOR ONE OF THOSE BEAR MARKET BOUNCES...MAGELLAN TO ABSORB MAGELLAN HOLDINGS

We're down 13 of the last 14 trading days. We are about as oversold as we can get so the futures are at least indicating that one of those bounces may be at hand. Noticed that a some of you are thinking that oil may be at a bottom. It sure feels that way. Crude is up this morning by a buck. It feels like a lot of people are throwing in the towel in here. But outside of one or two up days its hard to feel nothing but despair these days.

Magellan (MMP) is taking advantage of low prices as the announced last night to restructure themselves by absorbing Magellan Holdings (MGG). They well exchange roughly .63 of MMP for each share of MGG. That's 25% above MMP's close yesterday. Smart move. They do ipo's of the gps when they can cash out near some sort of top and now buy the shares back at around or less than where they came public.

Earnings after the close today from Martin Midstream (MMLP) otherwise there is no other news this morning.

thanks to Josef for point this out.

Crosstex (XTXI) is a penny stock now trading at 88 cents with Crosstex LP (XTEX) is down 43 cents at 1.25. Now while Crosstex is no Kinder Morgan its no slouch either. And look how the mighty continue to fall. There is so much damage on the tape that you wonder whether any of these companies will ever come back. Dow Chemical at 6. GE at 7. Alcoa at 5. Citigroup at 1. Its like 1974 all over again with the nifty fifty collapse only this time is different...its the entire financial system's survival that remains in play.

Sad Sad time. And Louise Yammada yesterday says 6500 on the dow is her first downside target and then we have to start talking about 4000 on the dow...400 on the S&P. So another 40% haircut from here? I would hate to think what the world will look like under that scenario. See you in prision! This is from an interview back in November.

About the only thing left that maybe is working is gold. But think about this. If all asset classes are going to zero and you have nothing left to sell, and you have to sell something to survive..then you also have to sell gold. Maybe thats why its down 25 bucks today. When you gotta sell...you sell what you have. And they are basically now selling grandmas jewelery!

Speaking of selling..dow is dropping now by 40 points as we head into the close. Mlps down nearly 7. That 150 November low looks like its doable if the overall market continues to collapse.

Here is a free Barrons piece on yesterday's technical action and what it might or might not mean.

1 and 2 point losses in the big cap mlps like Kinder Morgan (KMP) Buckeye (BPL) Energy Transfer (ETP) etc etc etc causing a 5 point loss on the mlp index and we are just 2 points above last weeks 170 intra day low where a bounce to 182 occurred. Markets overall trying to rally with not much success. We'll see what the afternoon brings but frankly...this is one big mess we're in.

STILL UP ON THE YEAR (BARELY) WHILE THE DOW IMPLODES! THE ROAD TO HELL IS LITTERED WITH MLP "CALL OPTIONS"

The horror show just goes on and on with a 300 point dow industrial drop yesterday and a 12 point plus decline in the MLP index. And yet somewhow with the dow 1200 points lower than the beginning of the year, we still remain 1% high for 2009. We must be doing it with mirrors! And you better be in the right mlps otherwise your portfolio is a nightmare.



Earnings news yesterday from Crosstex Energy (XTEX,XTXI) were an mlp holders worst nightmare. The company has suspended its distribution. And there isn't anything worse than no payout for an mlp. The stocks were selling with call option handles and yesterday they were taken to the land of the 1 dollar handle!

We also have Atlas Holdings (AHD) earnings which indicate all the problems facing this company. Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) also put up earnings with the appropriate details. Markwest Energy (MWE) has closed its partnership and it put up earnings yesterday. Company has hedged itself according to the release and hints at no negative impact on the distribution for 2009. We can only hope. Markets are deadcat boucing this morning. Its gotten to the point where i am not even looking to hard at my portfolio. Can't do anything with it.

Sorry again for yesterday but we had a nice snowstorm and i got to work it which was much welcomed.



This is the morning after. That moment right after sunrise. Let the melting please begin. Its 14 degrees out there so the March sun has its work cut out for it.