The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) combines life expectancy, education and income to provide a more complete picture of well-being than simply considering GDP per capita. If one chart can illustrate the global challenge of combatting climate change, it might be the scatterplot below. HDI is inextricably linked to energy consumption. 100 Gigajoules (GJ) […]
Like Warren Buffett’s legions of followers, we enjoy reading his annual letter. He writes as clearly as he thinks. Buffett’s also a great interviewee, and his TV appearances with Becky Quick on CNBC are engaging – although it’s quicker and almost as illuminating to read the transcript. Buffett is quick to admit mistakes, which simply […]
Earnings season often produces memorable soundbites during the conference calls that follow. Last summer, Energy Transfer (ET) CEO Kelcy Warren said, “A monkey could make money in this business right now.” (see Running Pipelines is Easy). Kelcy is not overly burdened with modesty, but at least he is backing up his brash comments with results. […]
For almost my entire 38 year career in Finance, we’ve worried about the U.S. Federal deficit. Someone recently asked me if we should still be worried. You’d think that it should have been a problem by now, but it’s not. Thirty year treasury bonds yielding 3% don’t look enticing, but evidently a lot of investors […]
Long time MLP investors fondly recall the days before the Shale Revolution, when yield comparisons with REITs and Utilities made sense. This ended in 2014, when the energy sector peaked. Cumulative distribution cuts of 34%, as subsequently experienced by investors in the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), convinced income seeking investors that pipelines were a hostile […]
At the InsideETFs conference in Hollywood, FL, author Michael Lewis outdrew the many luminaries on hand offering investment advice. From Liar’s Poker to The Fifth Risk, Lewis has honed his ability to identify a story and recount it engagingly. Interviewer Barry Ritholtz provided thoughtful questions that allowed his guest to enlighten and entertain. The book […]
To slow global warming, we should phase out cows. Bovine flatulence is often a source of scatological humor for those making light of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). However, cattle generate 5 gigatons of CO2 equivalent, annually. More precisely, they produce methane. A chart used by Bill Gates reveals that cattle produce almost as much in […]
Last week President Trump tweeted, “Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!” It wasn’t the first time the Dow had risen through that threshold. On July 14th, the President tweeted, “The Stock Market hit 25,000 yesterday.” A year ago, on January 4th, 2018: “Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.” This […]
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published their 2019 Annual Energy Outlook. Whenever your optimism on the prospects for U.S. energy infrastructure waivers, this will restore your confidence. The outlook for domestic energy production is bullish, and in many cases more so than a year ago. For example, in their 2018 report, the EIA’s […]
