AMZ Anniversary Countdown: 2009

AMZ Total Return: 76.4%
Annualized Standard Deviation: 24.4%
Average Yield: 9.3%
Average Spread to Treasuries: 601 basis points
Top AMZ Performer: MarkWest Energy Partners (MWE)
Bottom AMZ Performer: Energy Transfer Partners (ETP)
Median AMZ Daily Liquidity: $332 million

If there was one word that described 2009, it would be comeback. (Hey Missy Elliott!) While the index did not reach the high of 342.14 in 2007, the index did return 61.9% on a price-return basis and 76.4% on a total return basis. It’s one thing for a stock like Netflix to gain 60%+ in a year, but it’s a completely different ballgame when an INDEX gains 60%+ in a year.

In mid-January, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (former ticker: KMP) became the first MLP to sign an equity distribution agreement, also known as an at-the-market (ATM) sales agreement. Since then, tens of billions of capacity has been filed across 58 MLPs.

On April 2, 2009, the first exchange traded note (ETN) tracking the Alerian MLP Index was launched by JPMorgan, the JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN (AMJ).

With the debt markets open in 2008, the only item missing in the 2009 comeback story was IPOs. 2009 marked the only year since the existence of the modern iteration of MLPs where there were no IPOs. (Crossing fingers that we’ll see one this year.)

Fun fact: On the methodology side, 2009 represented the last full year that the AMZ was rebalanced monthly. After February 2010, the index would be rebalanced quarterly.