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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.  Selling stocks and raising cash is in nearly every circumstance… » read more

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 for this change is the growth of companies around Internet… » read more

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, even after these declines, early purchasers of cryptos still enjoy… » read more

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 partner, a right to a share of the MLPs distributable… » read more

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 products indiscriminately bidding up the prices of the more thinly… » read more

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.

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 income tax, to include a tax adjustment on the rates… » read more

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 experienced in 1987 or 1998. The catalyst of this potential… » read more

The current tax reform looks to provide a near-term boost to the US economy. A family earning the median household income of $59,000 per year should see a reduction of taxes totaling approximately $1,000. Taxpayers earning between $75K and $100K would see an average tax reduction of $1600[1]. The size of the tax cut is… » read more

In Comstock’s Third Quarter Market Commentary, our Chief Investment Officer, Steve Browne, CFA, provided insight as to the impact election years have had on the markets.  If you could go back to the beginning of any election year and ask: Had I known the outcome, would there have been easy money to make picking stocks or timing… » read more