EV Partners had a nice 17000 share insider buy. Inspires some confidence.

Stocks running into the close. Dow up 155. MLP index up nearly 7.

6 point gain and every mlp and gp except for 2 are higher. Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) and Martin Midstream (MMLP) are the laggards although they have held up better than most in this horror of a year.

Lets hope we carry this rally into January; at least for awhile. We are certainly entitled to it. MLPS performance will be tied to the easing of rates in the junk bond arena. Otherwise we're going no where fast.

Energy is moving today as oil is up now nearly 2 dollars. The MLP index is up over 4 points and we continue to see some nice percentage moves in a few issues. Crosstex (XTXI) is up nearly 33% today at 3.50 up 1.01. Also up one or more; Plains All American (PAA) Sunoco Logistics (SXL) Oneok (OKS) Magellan (MMP) Exterran (EXLP) and Nustar (NS).

I am really trying to figure who the safer candidates are for a double in here and of course these things move quickly. Of course the ones you pick are usually the wrong ones but i'm going to take a stab with Hiland (HLND) and maybe one or 2 others if i can sort through the debris. Markwest (MWE) stares at me as a possibility. And i keep thinking if DCP Midstream(DPM) is going to be able to keep its payout...then this stock should be able to get back to 15.

Never easy.

THANK GOD!!! 2008 IS DONE

Good bye and good riddance in a year we all would rather forget and a year where MLPS took it on the chin...pretty much with everything else as the world came to an end. Late morning first post here as we watch the market come off some of the year end pressues and the dow is up 90 points right now. The mlp index is up nearly 2 points. I'm noticing some movement in the 10 dollar and under issues today. Not all of them are going up but 17 of the 22 mlps and gps under 10 dollars are up today. Maybe its early January effect.

Copano (CPNO) caught some bids yesterday and continues higher today back over 11. Exterran Partners (EXLP) also has move from 8 to 11 in the last couple of days and leads the winners list today up 90 cents. Alliance (ARLP) Oneok (OKS) and DCP Midstream (DPM) among the fractional winners today. Again not many losers and nothing on the list that stands out. If its year end nonsense that selling should disappear shortly.

I'll check back in later today as we are having some company and a prime rib roast for tonight. Never liked going out on New Years anyway. Prefer to stay at home and prepare a good meal rather than go out and eat a terrible overpriced one.

Sorry for the lack of posts today. It seems everyone i know is in the hospital. My neighbor started things off with a perforated appendix which then led to the removal of a cancerous nodule on the liver...thankfully the cancer was completely contained and had not spread. Then my good friend steve gives birth to a kidney stone...male. My dad is in Mississippi and gets taken down by my sister's huge dog. Nothing more than a sprain there. So i've had my hands full today and missed the nice market rally and some mlp moves. I will catch up this evening.

God i wish the holidays would just end already.

ITS ALMOST OVER

The year that is. Just 2 trading days lefft. Stocks have been following a pattern of flat to slightly higher opens followed by selloffs of about 100 points or so and then rallies back in the last hour. MLPS have held up okay through all this as we hover just under 170 on the index. Year end distortions continue and it looks like we have a higher open again this morning so we'll see where that takes us.

Not much happening otherwise today.Linn Energy (LINE) held on to most of its gain yesterday after the Barron's piece. Otherwise most stocks in the group spent the day in relatively tight ranges. No corporate developements this morning and no upgrades or downgrades so far.

I've been trying to come up with a list of mlps that are likely to maintain distributions based on the stock action but i can''t seem to be to confident about it. Sure Kinder Morgan (KMP) Nustar (NS) Oneok (OKS) and a few others are obvious. I'm trying to figure out the ones in the middle where their stock prices are trading somewhere in the teens and there is an element of guessing here. The cut list in my view includes the following.

Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL)
Atlas Pipeline Holdings (AHD)
Breitburn (BBEP)
Constellation Energy Partners (CEP)*
Crosstex LP (XTEX)
Crosstex (XTXI)
Eagle Rock Energy Partners (EROC)
Hiland Partners (HLND)
Hiland Holdings (HPGP)
Markwest (MWE)
Quest Energy Partners (QELP)

*Constellation has already recommended to the board a cut from 56 cents to 13 cents.

Again these are stocks whose price action indicates a cut is imminent. The ones that are tougher to figure out include

Copano (CPNO)
Exterran (EXLP)
Genesis (GEL)
Regency (RGNC)
Penn Virginia (PVR)
Penn Virginia Holdings (PVG)
Targa Resources (NGLS)
Williams (WPZ)

There is potential for a big up move in any and all of these if (and its a big if) a few things happen in January. The first is the easing of credit conditions...and the second it that corporate conditions improve to allow those on the fence to keep distributions intact and that they are safe going foward. Third...a rally in the energy complex would help. And of course the market overall needs to put together a significant rally. Then of course many of these companies could cut and then the stocks could rally anyway if the market has the view that the worst is priced in.

Okay bettors...the casino is open...prepare to place your bets.

Energy stocks leading the way higher at the open but as the overall market has shown signs of weakness, energy, energy stocks and mlps all have pulled back from the morning highs. The mlp index has now turned lower by a few pennies.

Magellan Midstream (MMP) crossing headlines on its Port Arthur project which is being revamped. The Wall Street Journal has a piece this morning about how inspite of demand for pipeline the credit crisis is preventing expansion. No surprise here really that access to money is almost non existent and without it, you can't grow your business. Magellan is up fractionally on its news. Also we are seeing Linn Energy(LINE) with a 2 dollar plus gain off the Barrons piece this weekend. Inergy Holdings (NRGP) is up 50 cents and back over 21 bucks this morning. DCP Midstream (DPM) is now up 35 cents and back to 10.70. Hey at least they are trying.

One of the tricks to making money over the next few weeks is going to be trying to figure out which mlps are going to be able to maintain distributions for 2009. If there is an issue out there which is right now trading like its going out of business, and the company winds up staying in business and keeping the payouts going...then those issues could probably double in a hurry. And many can double and still be a million miles away from anything resembling its 52 week high.

Dow down 81 points right now...MLPS remain flat for the most part.

Linn Energy up 2 in the premarket this morning.

LINN GETS A BARRONS BLESSING!

Barrons over the weekend profiled Linn Energy (LINE) with a nice positive spin saying the shares could double. More info from my weekend post along with comments by the gallery. Stock chart shows a trip from 30 to 12 and that's one of the better mlp performers of 2008! How sad is that!

We're coming to the end of this horrific year and the last few days of 2008 will probably see all kinds of distortions for one reason or another. Case in point is the crude market which is up 3 dollars this morning on Middle East geo political concerns. However note that out month crude futures are selling for much higher prices which means that people are essentially paying for storage. When you can sell an out month in the futures at a higher price its bearish for oil so for the time being i would not read much into this 3 dollar bounce.

Not much else happening this morning on the corporate front and nothing on the upgrade downgrade list so far. The mlp index had a decent day Friday with a 3 point rise and very few issues actually went down so we could be seeing the beginnings of a year end/January bounce. Some of these mlps that are priced like call options might double in price fairly quickly if we have a favorable overall market enviornment so some fast money could be made here. Stock futures are a little higher this morning after being lower most of the night.

The cat got more presents then me!

Linn Energy gets a positive profile in this week's Barrons. You need to be a subscriber in order to read the piece but i'm sure the text of the piece will somehow pop up somewhere in the comments section. Magical how that happens!

Seeing maybe some of the year end selling pressure coming off a few issues today. DCP Midstream (DPM) for example is up 30 cents and has been slowly upticking. A few upticks in some other issues and actually while about 1/2 of the mlps and gps on the list are down, they are down by 17 cents or less. The mlp index itself is up nearly 1 point on this watching paint dry kind of day.

2 losers of note are Oneok (OKS) down 50 cents and Atlas Resources (ATN) down 67 cents. No standout winners..the largest winners are up fractions. I'm hoping that the pressures of year end come off and allow us to have a big bounce in the beginning of January. Certainly many mlp issues are entitled to a big bounce. But i don't think we get that bounce unless we see a rally in corporate bonds (drop in yields) and at least the appearence of an appetite for risk.

IT WAS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS IN MLP LAND,
HOLDINGS WERE WAVING NECK DEEP IN QUICKSAND.
SPENDING A YEAR SINKING DOWN IN THE PIT,
PORTFOLIO VALUES ALL TAKING A HIT,
BUT NOW WE APPROACH THE END OF THE YEAR,
FOR NONE THAT I KNOW SHED BARELY A TEAR.
NAT GAS AND CRUDE CONTINUE TO SINK,
CUTS IN THE PAYOUTS ARE COMING I THINK!
FOR NOW THE FUTURE SEEMS RATHER QUITE BLEAK,
THE MARKETS I FEAR CONTINUE TO LEAK,
SOMEDAY THIS HORROR WILL COME TO AN END
THE PATH INTO HELL WILL COME TO A BEND
AND THE TURN WILL START HIGHER IN TWO THOUSAND NINE
PERHAPS IN A YEAR THINGS WILL FEEL FINE.
SO DON'T BE SO SAD. WE ALL TRY TO COPE,
MAYBE NEXT YEAR WILL GIVE US SOME HOPE!

Okay it ain't Shakespeare but its early in the morning and i'm still wiped out from yesterday. Overeating makes me poetic. I hope everyone's Christmas was one to remember. This morning we have maybe the seeds of a post Christmas rally. Today is the last day you can sell for 2008 cash settlement so we should see some end of year pressure coming off the market later today. And then we have only 3 days left to trade in this miserable year. No corporate developements and no upgrades or downgrades this morning. I'm not expecting too much to happen today. Crude and nat gas are higher this morning which should give energy stocks some support.

Heading to the gym to work off yesterday's calories. I will check in later. A sign off the times. I workout at Ballys which is in chapter 11. You can't watch tv when you workout anymore because the company didn't pay its satellite bill. Oh well. There is always the ipod.

I bet he would have rather had a NY Giants sweatshirt!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

TO EACH OF US...AND ALL OF US
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
AND ALL THE BLESSINGS OF CHRISTMAS
TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU
WHO VISIT THIS BLOG!

taking a few days off from blog land!!!

BTW we have insider buy filings at Enterprise Products Partners and also at Buckeye Partners (BPL).

Some individual movers today that are standing out. Markwest Energy is down 1.34 to 7 and some change. This with an insider stepping up to the plate. Inergy (NRGY) and Inergy Holdings (NRGP) are up a bit on news that Stagecoach North is up and running. Otherwise its a losing day with the mlp index down over 3 points. The energy complex is down with nat gas nearing 5 dollars and Crude holding just above 40 as we have headed into the new contract.

Hiland Partners (HLND) is down under 4 dollars and its stock price is not much more than its annual distribtuion! Hiland Holdings (HPGP) is at 2 bucks as it moves in tandem. No doubt that a cut is coming here. If not that this stock could triple in a hurry. Place your bets kids...red or black! Penn Virginia (PVG) Nustar Holdings (NSH) Holly Partners (HEP) and Energy Transfer (ETP) are all down 1 point or more.

I guess its lots of year end selling going on but as far as falling energy prices...could be a signal that the economy is nothing short of a disaster area.

CHRISTMAS WEEK!

Just 3 days away and in our house as is probably the case in many homes Christmas is a 2 day affair so everything is upside down around here. Wednesday is nothing but
seafood and singing at 3 masses. Beware of catholic tenors...we're very sensetive! But no matter. My suspicion is that trading for the next 3 days should be relatively uneventful with an upside bias. I would also suspect that there won't be many corporate developements and there are none this morning.So we have 3 charts which are continuing to build short term bases. Interesting that the Dow Jones Oil and Gas index is not going to new lows with crude and nat gas so thats an interesting divergence. Stock futures are a little higher and energy futures are a touch higher as well.

I just want to express thanks to those of you who bought some mystic monk coffee over the last few weeks...and to those of you who threw a few dollars into the tip jar. I really appreciate it very much! One thing i have found is that this Christmas for me anyway has been a much happier less stressful
buildup than the past few years. Its funny that the destruction of wealth has not led to the destruction of everything else! No one is starving for lack of food around here. Everyone is healthy. Its just so much easier this way. Mr Vanderhoff had it right. You can't take it with you. And btw if you haven't seen it , its Frank Capra's lesser known movie from 1938 which won an oscar for best picture and best director. Doesn't get as much play as Its A Wonderful Life but its a great movie for this time of year and also for the kind of year we've had.