Not every high-rent market district got bombed Friday; only the ones trafficking in dot-com dreams and drugs. Even as the biotechs and the Nasdaq were getting crushed, the also-not-cheap Alerian MLP Index was flirting with a record high.

The MLP benchmark is now up 2.5 percent year-to-date and 4 percent over the last eight trading sessions, hesitating not at all at the May 22 peak that marked the onset of last year’s correction.

And why not? The planets have aligned with energy prices strong and steady, energy stocks in demand and interest rates still stalled below 3 percent on the 10-year Treasury.

Through it all, the economy has shown signs of shaking off the winter blahs. And a tax-deferred yield a little more than half-way to double digits still has very limited competition for retiree funds. Party on!

Emerge Energy Services (NYSE: EMES), a fracking sand MLP unfortunately not in our portfolio, has rallied 55 percent (not a typo) in a month. One of the two closed-end MLP funds launched just last week, the First Trust New Opportunities MLP & Energy (NYSE: FPL), is trading at a 5 percent premium to net asset value.

It’s hard to complain. Over the 17 trading sessions since last month’s issue, the nine Best Buys ranked in March have gained an average of 4.5 percent, versus 3.9 for the Alerian. EQT Midstream (NYSE: EQM) has surged nearly 12 percent. Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) and Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) were the second- and the fourth-best performers, advancing 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively. To better understand why those two have been so hot, see this month’s Sector Spotlight on LPG exporters.

This month’s Best Buys restores to the portfolio the sector’s biggest flop in more than a year, the severely humbled Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (NYSE: BWP), along with a fast growing and still very attractive crude, water and NGL logistics operator NGL Energy Partners (NYSE: NGL). Boardwalk’s distribution cut has it selling for less than tangible book value, discounting considerable and realistic growth prospects. NGL is a serial acquirer that’s somehow building a nationwide franchise without piling on excessive debt or skimping on the distribution coverage, a very impressive feat.

Boardwalk’s return reminds us that its safety rating never flagged its cash flow issues. We’re looking for a way to improve that rating system and make it more relevant and useful. For more on this, see In Focus.

For more on the good news at TRGP and EPD and the goings on with other recommendations, check Portfolio Update.

Another earnings season looms ahead, and if the sentiment holds good results will be rewarded. But expectations will be as lofty as the valuations.

We’re hopeful for some portfolio holdings that still look quite cheap, and happy with those grown pricey for all the right reasons. Figuring out how long to ride big winners is the happiest of high-quality problems.