Month: March 2018

Week Thoughts: Winter Breaks, Stakes Still High

A strong Thursday saved the week for Midstream and MLPs, which both finished marginally positive, but trailed the broad stock market and utilities.  Oil prices were down slightly but weren’t much of a factor.  Midstream sold off Tuesday in what felt like end of quarter window un-dressing after a double digit negative quarter.

Week Thoughts: Market Trumps Midstream

Another rough week in Midstream, the worst in nearly 2 months. Midstream and MLPs overall did outperform the S&P 500, though, which had its worst week 2+ years.  MLPs fared the worst, down 5.5%, U.S. midstream corps were down 4.2%, matching the AMEI index (proxy for midstream universe), and Canadian Midstream outperformed both.

Week Thoughts: FERC Upsets MLPs, March Sadness Continues

Midstream had another rough week.  The MLP Index has declined 5 out of the last 7 weeks and is off 15.2% from its peak in January.  Just when it seemed sentiment around MLPs couldn’t get worse with uncertain pending structural resolutions, poor fund flows and distribution cuts, FERC piled on with a ruling specifically targeting an MLP tax loophole.

Week Thoughts: Clear Skies, Full Boats, Can’t Lose

MLPs and Midstream were positive this week, but they waited until Friday’s broad market and oil price rally to trade up, and therefore underperformed the S&P 500, which traded up 4 of 5 days and rallied 3.5% this week.  S&P 500’s trailing 12 month and YTD lead on all things energy and midstream continues to grow.  Commodity prices firmed up Friday, salvaging an otherwise uneventful week.

Incentive Distribution Rights Revisited

More than once in the last month, I’ve been asked to review how incentive distribution rights (IDRs) works, and how they impact an MLP.  In the earliest days of the blog, I wrote some pieces on the basics of MLPs, including one on IDRs published in December 2009 that you can read here.