OIL DIVES BELOW $55...NATURAL GAS HIGHER....ENERGY TRANSFER PARTNERS EARNINGS DUE OUT THIS MORNING!

Oil has decisively dropped below 55 dollars a barrel this morning and is sitting just above 54 even. Imagine we'll see a 53 handle at some point today. So look for some pressure at the open on energy stocks in general. Energy stock weakness doesn't always translate to MLP weakness but if a broad sell-off in big oil stocks developes it tends to spread to MLPS at some point.

Link on Yahoo indicates earnings will be out on Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) this morning. I'm not sure if this is correct. They use to post numbers around this time of the quarter but last quarter they reported in November i guess to account for their latest deal. If they do post i will link immediately. Meanwhile there are no other corporate developements and no upgrades or downgrades at least so far.

That oil chart above btw has broken down again so it looks like unless we get some sort of mega reversal later this morning or this afternoon 50 dollars is the next logically stopping point. Meanwhile we did see a bounce in MLP's yesterday off the support line. If MLPS can go their own way against other energy stocks it will say something about just how strong this group is relative not only to energy stocks but perhaps the entire market in general!


One last check of news and upgrades downgrades finds nothing so far. I will post when news hits.