We’re getting used to 4-5% inflation. Using the Fed’s preferred measure, core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), it’s been above 3% since April 2021. People are quietly mentioning the unmentionable – what if the Fed raises its inflation target?  The Economist recently published a briefing warning that “failure to quell it quickly will transform financial markets”. […]

The Equity Risk Premium (ERP) is a measure of the relative attractiveness of stocks versus bonds. It compares the earnings yield on stocks with the interest rate on ten year treasury notes. For much of the past decade it’s shown stocks to be relatively attractive compared to the average relationship going back to 1962 – […]

Insider trading hasn’t been eliminated, in spite of the SEC’s efforts. In March Terren S Peizer, CEO of Ontrak Inc, was indicted for selling stock in his company when he knew they were losing a key client. He did the trades using Rule 10b5-1 which governs when senior executives can dispose of shares. Last week […]

New York and much of the northeast US was shrouded in smoke from Canadian wildfires last week. Westfield, NJ is around 21 miles from lower Manhattan, which is normally visible if you’re at a high enough point. Last Wednesday it was not. Neither was the sun. Millions of Americans experienced air quality more usually associated […]

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has suffered countless delays because of continued legal challenges from environmental extremists. Permits issued by Federal agencies were on many occasions rescinded by judges. No infrastructure of any kind can be built with such a process. When the recently passed debt ceiling legislation deemed completing MVP “in the national interest” […]

In February, the transcript of the dialogue between Bing’s chatbot and a NYTimes journalist illustrated a weird, unsettling side of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Kevin Roose, the columnist, mischievously led the chatbot through a series of existential questions about feelings which culminated in advice that Roose was in love with Bing, not his earthly companion. It […]

Last November SS&C Alps Advisors, the people who manage the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), admitted that they’d screwed up calculating the taxes owed by their fund. Mutual funds and ETFs don’t pay taxes as long as they comply with the rules of the 1940 Investment Company Act for an exemption. AMLP does not comply, because […]

Right up until the last minute, environmental extremists continued to use the court system to stymie completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which will move natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia. Permits have been issued by too many Federal and state agencies to list here. Extremists led by the Sierra Club with their […]

Last week the Midstream Energy Infrastructure Conference (MEIC) held its annual event in Palm Beach, FL. SL Advisors partner Henry Hoffman was there and today’s blog post recounts highlights reported by Henry.   Oneok’s (OKE) proposed acquisition of Magellan Midstream (MMP) was a common topic, especially the unwelcome recapture of deferred taxes facing MMP. When a […]

An unintended side-effect of Oneok’s (OKE) proposed acquisition of Magellan Midstream (MMP) has been to give a bid to smaller MLPs. This has come about because of the shrinking pool of names available to populate the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index (AMZIX) and the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) which tracks it. AMZIX recently increased its maximum […]