MLPs Recovered Slightly in the Week Ending August 25

MLPs recovered slightly in the week ending August 25—possibly due to an overcorrection in the first three weeks of the month and stability in crude oil prices last week. Crude oil rose above $48 per barrel last week and ended the week at $47.9 per barrel, which resulted in a fall of 1.3% week-over-week. Read Will US Crude Oil Fall below $47 Next Week? to learn more.

The Alerian MLP Index (^AMZ), which tracks the performance of 50 energy MLPs, ended 2.3% higher last week. Out of the total 96 MLPs, 68 ended in green, three remain unchanged, while the remaining 25 ended in red.

Among the top MLPs by market capitalization, Plains All American Pipeline (PAA), Enterprise Product Partners (EPD), Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), and Williams Partners (WPZ) rose 6.2%, 2.5%, 1.6%, and 0.9%, respectively. In the next part, we’ll look into last week’s stock performance drivers for Plains All American Pipeline and other MLPs.

The Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), which is comprised of 25 energy MLPs, rose 0.2%. Last week, AMLP underperformed the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). XLE and SPY rose 1.0% and 0.8%, respectively.

AMZ has fallen 8.0% since the beginning of the month due to general pessimism in the midstream energy sector and volatility in crude oil prices. Read Is It the Right Time Now to Buy MLPs? to learn more.

MLP funds, including the Alerian MLP ETF and the J.P. Morgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ), saw net inflows of funds last week. AMLP had a net inflow of $24.2 million, while AMJ saw an inflow of $2.2 million during the same period.