I first learned about MLPs (master limited partnerships) only 6 months ago. They are a slightly different type of investment, offering units not shares & paying distributions rather than dividends. Their track record is tracked on the Alerian MLP index (^AMZ at Yahoo Finance):
The last 12 months started off with a major move from 260 (a plateau) to around 335. Then, the index went thru a bumpy flat period followed by a large sell off to around 300 in early August. Since then it's been in the 290-310 zone. In the last couple of weeks, it slipped back, looks like it will test the low again around 290. I like these companies. Demand for building more pipelines in the US seems unlimited in the coming years. Analysts figure growth as yield plus their growth rate. In other words, if the unit yields 6% plus the distribution is expected to grow at a 5% rate, they project investment growth of 11%. The distributions are tax efficient, unfortunately being a limited partner also means a limited amount of tax hassle.
In Asia, it's already Mon, their stock markets are mixed. We have a short trading week because of the holiday, but expect high volatility. The Dow looks like it may test the lows of its 13-14K trading range.
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