Month: January 2019

It was a quiet week across the market.  Midstream, MLPs, utilities, the S&P 500 and oil prices were all plus or minus less than 1%.  Midstream earnings season re-starts this week after a pause for the KMI analyst day last week.  EPD, MMP, TGE and a few others report 4Q results late in the week.  Expectations have come down with lower commodity prices since 3Q results, but Midstream results should still show progress on cash flow growth, self-funding and de-leveraging initiatives.

Midstream rallied for a third straight week.  Both the AMNA and AMUS indexes have rallied 20% off the Christmas Eve bottom, while the AMZ is up 17.8% over the same period.  Oil and natural gas prices and the broader equity market were supportive of midstream gains this week.

Midstream had another big week, helped by recovering commodity prices and strong equity market backdrop.  Midstream (U.S. and Canada) fared better on average than MLPs this week, with the AMNA posting a 4.4% gain to catch and pass the Alerian MLP Index for the year so far. Midstream also outperformed utilities by a wide margin.

As this blog enters its 10th year of existence, let me provide an update on where we plan to go with this.  In 2019, nothing will change with regards to the timely weekly write-ups you all love.  Occasionally, however, I will sprinkle in a mid-week post that might include promotional language related to my day job at CBRE Clarion.  In addition to providing weekly free analysis on the MLP sector through my blog, I manage a midstream investment strategy and I contribute to the global team that manages a global infrastructure investment strategy on behalf of paying clients.

Midstream stocks and MLPs were up every day this week and finished with their best week since April 2016.  For the MLP Index it was the 8th best week all-time, and it only took them 4 trading days to do it.  Midstream outperformed the S&P 500 and energy stocks by a wide margin.

Monday to Monday, the AMNA was up 5.3% and recouped some losses for the month and save the sector from finishing with the worst quarter on record.  Midstream traded well, but underperformed strength in the S&P 500 (+6.6% since Christmas) and oil prices (+7.8%).  Below is a summary of midstream over the last 5 years.  Oil prices finished the year 24% lower, blowing it after calls for $100 oil over the summer.