A decade ago, the collapse of Lehman Brothers marked the psychological low of the 2008 Financial Crisis. Equity prices bottomed a few months later, in March 2009. Hedge funds had nimbly managed their way through the 2000-02 dotcom collapse, which led to substantial inflows over the next six years. By 2008 AUM had quadrupled, as […]
A Cuadrilla is the matador’s supporting cast. Before the bullfighter takes on his next victim, the bull is tormented and weakened by a gang (a “Cuadrilla”) of toreadors and picadors. Of course, the bull always loses, because it’s a spectacle not a sport. Cuadrilla is therefore an oddly antagonistic name for a UK company using […]
The Federal Reserve has brought transparency to their decisions. The famous “blue dots” which show visually each FOMC voting member’s forecast for rates provides insight into their thinking, even if it doesn’t attach names to each dot. We’ve come a long way from Alan Greenspan’s Senate testimony, “Since becoming a central banker, I have learned […]
Last week Antero Midstream (AM) became the latest MLP to simplify their structure. This is further evidence of the declining opportunity set for MLP-dedicated funds, and cause for investors to seek exposure to energy infrastructure that goes beyond MLPs to include corporations (see The Uncertain Future of MLP-Dedicated Funds). Like many MLPs before them, Antero […]
Will rising interest rates hurt pipeline company stocks? Ten year treasury yields are at 3.25%, a seven year high. The bond market is commanding the attention of equity investors once more. The high yields on MLPs have long attracted income-seeking investors. A common valuation metric is to compare the sector’s yield with the ten year […]
Ethane prices recently hit a four year high. Although this garnered far less attention than the crude oil rally, increasing supplies of ethane is an unappreciated element of the Shale Revolution. “Dry” natural gas consists of methane, most commonly supplied to residential gas stoves but also increasingly used by power plants to produce electricity. “Wet” […]
Bethany McLean didn’t intend her latest book, Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World, to be a booster of the Shale Revolution. The New York Times got it all wrong when they titled her promotional op-ed, The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground. Before reading her book, I therefore assumed that […]
Technical analysis shows that the outlook for pipeline stocks is bullish. We rarely write on technicals, since we’re relentlessly focused on the fundamentals. But fundamental news has been light, with prices drifting irregularly lower. Investors are overwhelmingly frustrated with the failure of pipeline company stocks to reflect growing throughput volumes. The U.S. just claimed World’s […]
