Market Sentiment Watch: GDP came in slightly light to expectations. The L-shaped recovery continues and I can’t really complain about about the sequential increase here. Government purchases were down sharply in the quarter helping to pull the headline number off of consensus as defense spending slowed. The consumer In today’s post please find a early read on another soon to be public E&P company, as well as the natural gas storage review, a look ahead at next week’s earnings, a wrap of CRR’s key points from their call yesterday, and a run down of OAS’ guidance for 2012.

Macondo Watch: Judge rules partially in favor of RIG over BP … that BP would be responsible for losses resulting from oil spilled below the surface. The judge then said that RIG could still be responsible for damages under the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. And both sides then claimed victory. And here’s another article on it.

• RIG rallied 9% after hours.
• HAL, who has a February court date with BP, moved up 3.5% after hours.  By the way, we put some thoughts together from earlier in the week regarding HAL in a piece here.

Ecodata Watch:

• 4Q GDP came in at 2.8% vs the 3.0% forecast and the 1.8% reading from 3Q11,
• We get Consumer Sentiment at 10 am EST, forecast is 74.3, last reading was 74.

In Today’s Post:

1. Holdings Watch
2. Commodity Watch
3. Natural Gas Inventory Preview
4. Oil Inventory Review
5. Stuff We Care About Today – IPO Watch (DOR), OAS guidance update
6. Odds & Ends

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Market Sentiment Watch: Fed goes lower for longer and the crow goes wild. That pretty much sums up yesterday as equity markets pushed higher taking crude up slightly and our group to the strongest levels we’ve seen (for the oily names) in quite some time. Today is another busy day for economic releases but tomorrow’s 4Q GDP number could prove pivotal if backward looking. In today’s post please find the EIA oil inventory slide show along with a look at another soon to price E&P IPO (most likely hits the market next week).

Ecodata Watch:

• Jobless claims  - 377,000 vs a forecast of 373,000, and last week’s reading of 352,000,
• Durable goods- (F = 2.5%, last read was 3.7%),
• We get Leading indicators at 10 am EST (F = 0.9%, last read was 0.5%),
• We get New home sales at 10 am EST (F = 325,000, last read was 315,000),
• We get 4Q GDP (F = 3.0%) and consumer sentiment tomorrow.

In Today’s Post:

1. Holdings Watch
2. Commodity Watch
3. Natural Gas Inventory Preview
4. Oil Inventory Review
5. Stuff We Care About Today – IPO Watch (MTDR), CRR earnings, HES Bakken comments
6. Odds & Ends

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Market Sentiment Watch: Calls of worry over Greece rising again with Portugal not far behind but today we should see a quiet session in front of the Fed announcement which should point to continued modest improvement and no change in action. In today’s post please find a sort of expanded Why I Own, What I Own piece for REXX as it has tumbled in sharply in recent weeks,  moving with other, gassier names yet its story remains 1) cheap, 2) on course and compelling, 3) higher margin than the pure play gas names and 4) well hedged. Also please find the natural gas and oil inventory previews – we should get out first winter-like withdrawal from gas storage of the season tomorrow but it’s little cause for celebration as it’s too little, too late, even if we experience a serious, prolonged cold snap in the near term.

Ecodata Watch:

• We get FHFA home prices and pending home sales at 10 am EST,
• FOMC statement and Ben Bernanke press conference later in the day.

In Today’s Post:

1. Holdings Watch
2. Commodity Watch
3. Oil Inventory Preview
4. Stuff We Care About Today –  REXX
5. Odds & Ends

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Market Sentiment Watch: Little in the way of economic news today, State of the Union tonight may seem more energy company friendly, and we get the Fed statement and Ben testimony so the market probably has another day of wait and see action in store for today… meanwhile worry over Greece and now Portugal is re-entering the market place. Gassy stocks were buoyed yesterday by CHK’s decision to cut back on drilling in dry gas plays (more quickly than previously expected) and to curtail production (more on that in the Commodity and Stuff sections below. That’s a nice start but we need cold weather to really rally gas and the gassier than not group and even that won’t prevent a record high post withdrawal season storage trough. In today’s post please find a quick update of the gassy player’s piece as well as earnings from BTU and a brief but important operational update from SSN.

Ecodata Watch:

• We get the Richmond Fed index at 10 am EST, last read was 3.

In Today’s Post:

1. Holdings Watch
2. Commodity Watch
3. Stuff We Care About Today – HAL earnings wrap, BTU earnings, Gassy players update, CHK
4. Odds & Ends

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Market Sentiment Watch: Market should be more earnings driven this week. APA announced it bought out a big private player in the mid-continent over the weekend, signalling super independents’ liking for U.S. onshore liquids rich plays is still strong … as expected, M&A activity in the U.S. liquids plays remains high (see more in the Stuff section). Otherwise we have a pretty slow start to the economic week with little data until Wednesday’s Fed statement and then Friday’s first read on 4Q GDP. Expect volatility around Ben’s comments on Wednesday.   In today’ post please find comments on the HAL 4Q report (record revenues and operating income) along with updated portfolio spreadsheets and a look at the earnings week ahead.

Ecodata Watch:

• No economic data release scheduled

The Week Ahead:

• Tuesday 1/23: Richmond Fed index,
• Wednesday 1/24: EIA Oil Inventory Report, FHFA home prices, pending home sales, FOMC statement and Ben B press conference,
• Thursday 1/25: EIA Natural Gas Inventory Report, Jobless claims (F 373,000, last week was 352,000), durable goods (F = 2.5%, last read was 3.7%), leading indicators (F = 0.9%, last read was 0.5%), new home sales (F = 325,000, last read was 315,000), Kansas City Fed
• Friday 1/26: 4Q GDP (F= 3%), Consumer sentiment (F = 74.3 vs last read of 74)

In Today’s Post:

1. Holdings Watch
2. Commodity Watch
3. Stuff We Care About Today – Earnings Calendar – Q411-Week 1, HAL earnings, APA
4. Odds & Ends

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