Articles
Over the Hedge
Stock market declines tend to trigger discussions of hedging by clients and in the financial press. Often the media presents hedging as a viable way for investors to protect their portfolios, which very rarely is the case. Hedging a portfolio simply means reducing equity exposure.
Sector Scramble
On September 21, the largest reorganization of GICS Industry Sector classification will take place. GICS – the Global Industry Classification Standard – is a joint venture between Standard & Poor’s and MSCI that defines sectors and industries and classifies individual stocks to them. The impetus
Crypto is not dead, it just smells funny
Paraphrasing from the classic Frank Zappa quote about Jazz, it has been a tough year for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has shed over two thirds of its value after reaching a peak price of $19K last year. Other cryptocurrencies, such as Etherium, suffered even worse losses. However,
A Green Light for MLPs?
Yesterday, August 2, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced an expected consolidation with its general partner, Energy Transfer Equity (ETE). Energy Transfer was the largest remaining MLP that had not eliminated its general partner and the associated Incentive Distribution Rights (IDRs). IDRs give ETE, the general
Poster Child for the ETF Revolution
While the record flows of investor capital into index funds and ETFs provided good returns during the bull market of the past few years, we remain concerned that much of the outperformance of passive strategies vs active managers was driven by fund flows into these
Alison Comstock Moss quoted in NY Times Article
In the NY Times article “Getting Married? Forget Sweet Nothings; Let’s Talk About Money,” Alison Comstock Moss of Paul Comstock Partners stresses the importance of sound financial advice in marriage. Read the full article here.
Last Week’s FERC Ruling Illustrates the Current High Level of Negative MLP Sentiment
The Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) provided another hit to already exhausted MLP investors with its announcement Thursday that it would remove tax allowances from its rate calculation for certain pipelines using an older ‘cost-of-service’ formula. FERC formerly allowed MLPs, which do not pay corporate
Not nearly as bad as we feared
Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. – Warren Buffett Over the past few quarters, we have expressed concern that this multi-year period of low volatility had created the potential for a structurally driven market decline analogous to those