U.S. stock futures are higher Monday morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 28 points to 12,073.00, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 4.2 points to 1,311.40. Futures for the Nasdaq Composite rose 6.25 points to 2,343.75.

U.S. markets closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Industrials gaining 29.89 points, or 0.25%, to close at 12,092.15.

Data on consumer credit for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

"Loews (NYSE: L), the holding company of the New York-based Tisch family, is a way of buying a collection of good stocks at a discount, with much else thrown in free," says Adrian Day.

The editor of the top-notch The Global Analyst explains, "These value investors have a long record of buying quality assets cheaply when they are out of favor, nurturing them, and eventually monetizing them."

"Everyone loves a sale, right? Typically, the Tisch family buys major chunks of out-of-favor businesses, often publicly traded, and holds them for many years. They exemplify the important traits of successful value investors: discipline and patience.

"I calculate a New Asset Value for Loews-taking current (depressed) stock prices for its publicly traded holdings, the cash, and conservative valuations for the private assets-of almost $39 per share.

Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY) reported a $904 million quarterly loss and said it expects this year to be its first annual loss in nine years. Nissan is cutting 20,000 jobs, or 8.5% of its workforce. NSANY shares declined over 6.5% in premarket trade.

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) reported Monday that its net profit for 2008 fell just 1% after several major one-off gains helped compensate for over 8 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) of write-downs. The bank's balance sheet, meanwhile, ballooned 67% to 2.05 trillion pounds. Pretax profit for the year dropped 14% to 6.08 billion pounds, well ahead of analyst estimates. Barclays said it will resume dividend payments in the second half of the year. Shares in Barclays soared over 12% in premarket trade.

I made it through mid-year of tracking my 2008 picks from last December and then -- Wham! -- I went from a slight advantage to being humbled badly by the market. However difficult it is to display your failings, once again I will share all of the horrors since I posted the original story Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008.

The master is still the master, Warren Buffett and his life's work Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) beat me easily as well as the three indices I tracked.

For the most part, unless you started shorting stocks, there was no place to hide and most of my picks were big losers. There were two that beat Buffett and the market. The defense sector was the defensive sector it was supposed to be with Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) doing well on a relative scale. The other place you could have a morsel of stability was utilities and Huaneng Power International (ADR) (NYSE: HNP) lost less but not by much.

In October Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) acquired $490 million on 21.2 million common shares of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: BWP), which plans to use the proceeds to expand its pipelines.

Loews, which owns stakes in insurance company CNA Financial Corp. as well as oil and gas companies and hotels, paid $23.13 per share, Friday's closing price, was $19.49 so your buying at a discount to the general partner.

Boardwalk said the cost to complete three pipeline projects is estimated at $3.9 billion. It has financed the projects to date with a combination of equity and debt issuance, cash from operations and by borrowing from the partnership's $1 billion revolving credit facility.

Lowes is the largest shareholder with a 70% equity interest. Boardwalk Pipeline Partners is in the business of interstate transportation, gathering, and storage of natural gas. The company operates through two subsidiaries -- Texas Gas Transmission and Gulf South Pipeline Company -- with a combined 13,550 miles of pipeline in 11 states.

Natural gas prices are down significantly, but I think most investors and users of natural gas alike think that is temporary and the price which is cyclical is near a low point and destined to go up. In the mean time BWP is off its 52 week high of $32.25, down in line with the overall market. The difference here is that BWP has almost a 10% yield while trading at a price to book value near 1.0. It seems to me that this stock will reward your patience while they expand the network and later when gas prices rise as expected.

Last weeks gas prices: At the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) The January 2009 contract settled at $5.686 per MMBtu.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture and planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of BWP or L, but I am considering them.

After seven months of tracking my 2008 picks -- Wham! -- I went from beating the indices and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) to being humbled by the market. However difficult it is to display your failings, once again I will share all. This is the low point since I posted the original story Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008.

Only Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) remained in positive territory, down from five stocks that were up in the last report. Sometimes, the reasons for the downslide were more obvious than they were in the cases for my picks. The cutting in half of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) has been reported often, as the largest independent oil refiner in North America has had its profit margins squeezed.

Loews Corporation (NYSE: L) has been hurt by its insurance interests and helped by its holdings -- a 51% stake in Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO) that has been doing well as the world remains desperate for more oil and natural gas.

The gap between the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the technology heavy NASDAQ Composite Index is narrower than in the past.