The long lead time between building and operation gets even longer and deters investment. Many recent proposals for nuclear power stations in the UK have been abandoned. Launched in 2021, ANU Energy is a privately owned physical uranium investment fund that boasts Kazatomprom as a seed investor.
Following the fallout, many major nations follow along, shutting down reactors or rethinking their nuclear plans. As a result, the global nuclear power industry ground to a screeching halt – and dragged the uranium industry with it. Just over a decade ago, Japan was considered the apex of the global nuclear energy boom. It boasted dozens of nuclear power plants, minimizing the mineral-bare country’s reliance on imported energy sources like coal and fossil fuel. The Horizons Global Uranium Index ETF, created in 2019, was the first pure-play uranium ETF how to buy sundaeswap in Canada and provides exposure to uranium industry growth. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.99 percent and a yearly return of 58.9 percent.
The field has been marked by booms and busts and its direction can change sharply on shifts in public policy and sentiment toward nuclear power, especially in the wake of disasters such as the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. There’s also the Uranium Royalty Corporation, which makes physical uranium purchases and invests in uranium-based companies in exchange for royalties. The company provides crucial capital to the uranium mining industry while providing easy(ish) access for everyday investors. The VanEck Vectors Uranium + Nuclear Energy ETF launched in 2007 and tracks a market-cap-weighted index of stocks in the uranium and nuclear energy industries.
However, demand for uranium is reviving today and is expected to continue, in part, japanese business to start paying workers in bitcoin as nations try to meet requirements of international agreements to reduce global warming. Investing in uranium stocks provides many of the common benefits of the stock market, including liquidity and ease of access. Built and maintained properly, uranium power plants can generate tons of safe, efficient and even profitable energy. However, knowing how to invest in uranium isn’t quite as straightforward as investing in stocks. Your options are also far more limited – and you certainly can’t buy and store it like gold.
Nonetheless, the horizon continues to brighten for nuclear energy, and in turn, the small collection of publicly traded uranium stocks … the uranium ETFs that hold them. This operational flexibility, alongside strong financials, are huge competitive advantages to have, especially at a time when the uranium industry is at an inflection point. Uranium prices hit nine-year highs in the month of September as the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust Fund aggressively mopped up uranium from the spot market.
With many major nations rethinking their approach to clean, affordable energy, nuclear power plants are an obvious option. That’s good news for uranium investors, as more nuclear power means more demand for the radioactive metal. Currently, futures are crucial to uranium markets establishing a semblance of price transparency and expectations.
MoneyWeek
The price of uranium broke through the US$100 level in late January 2024 to reach a 16-year high of US$106 per pound U3O8. Now, optimistic market watchers are expecting uranium to go up even higher. Working with an adviser may come with potential downsides such as payment of fees (which will reduce returns). There are no guarantees that working with an adviser will yield positive returns.
- Uranium is a non-renewable resource that is mined in many countries.
- The total expense ratio, or TER, of an investment fund is a measure of the fund’s total cost – including buying, selling and administration fees – to an investor.
- With a 20% rise in its price from the start of the year, uranium moved into bull market territory in September 2023 when its value scaled the $60 per pound mark, the first time since 2011.
- Since nuclear power is used primarily to produce electricity, its increasing acceptance by the power generating industry is the main reason traders should consider the commodity.
- Even Japan, which swore off nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, approved a policy in 2023 that will extend the operations of existing reactors and allow new reactors to be built.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley. Yields represent the trailing 12-month yield, which is a standard measure for equity funds. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services. In fact, for many segments of the economy, demand for electricity is inelastic.
How can investors buy non-UK shares?
The fund is “planning a public or private placement of up to $500 million, but has not said when,” reported Reuters in February of this year. As mentioned, that backdrop is helping uranium ETFs and related products gain steam. Today there are five uranium ETFs available, as well as three investment vehicles backed by physical uranium — and perhaps more to come.
Growing global interest in nuclear power as a carbon-free source of energy has led to increasing prices for uranium used as nuclear power plant fuel as well as the shares of companies that mine and process uranium. There is no commodities market for the radioactive mineral so investors who want to profit from uranium’s rise have to invest in stocks and exchange-traded funds. Investments in a currency other than sterling are exposed to currency exchange risk. Currency exchange rates are constantly changing which may affect the value of the investment in sterling terms.
Radioactive Material Found Near Southern California Beach
Uranium investments faltered again when Kazatomprom announced plans to boost production in 2024, stoking fears of a surplus and depressed prices. Following the Fukushima disaster, the price of uranium – the crucial ingredient of nuclear power – plummeted. Because of the anti-nuclear propaganda, regulation now requires multiple layers of safety in nuclear plant design. The process is complex, slow, expensive and cumbersome and so takes years to complete.
We’ve written extensively about trading platforms and investment apps elsewhere, paying special attention to the fees that providers charge (as these can vary significantly from one service to another). To compare fees, along with other key items of information, take a look at our pick of the best trading platforms and best investment trading apps. Once uranium is depleted for energy use, it can be re-purposed for other applications in its less radioactive state. Ships use uranium as a counterweight and it is also found in ammunition and armoured protective equipment. With a chemical symbol ‘U’, it is a naturally occurring material found in most rocks in concentrations of between two and four parts per million. Uranium is radioactive and decays over time releasing energy in the process.
Its expense ratio is 0.61 percent and its yearly return is 33.27 percent. Meanwhile, Andrew Cheung at EQ Investors describes the dual-listed Sprott Physical Uranium Trust ETF (ticker U.U in the US, U.UN in Canada) as “an investment alternative for investors interested in exposure to uranium”. The fund, claimed by Sprott to be the “world’s largest physical uranium investment fund”, has an expense ratio of 0.72% and invests and holds substantially all of its assets in uranium as U3O8.
If you want to own uranium developers and explorers, and hold out for a re-rating, go for it – but wait until markets are asleep and boring. Yellow Cake’s access to material volumes of uranium at prevailing market prices comes via its long-term partnership with Kazatomprom. Through this partnership, it has the option to purchase up to US$100 million of uranium annually. Here’s a look at how to invest in uranium ETFs and other vehicles. It’s also worth bearing in mind that holding overseas shares carries foreign exchange risk.
The selection of uranium-focused ETFs isn’t very wide, but luckily for investors the options are growing. The uranium market has faced difficulties since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, when tsunamis brought on by a massive earthquake crashed into and damaged several Japanese nuclear reactors. In the years since, fears over the radioactive risks posed by nuclear reactors, paired with excess supply, have weighed on prices. Hot on the heels of catastrophe, Japan shuttered all of its nuclear power plants.
And the North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF provides broad exposure to mining, exploration, development, production and uranium storage firms worldwide. One option is the Global X Uranium ETF, which tracks national and international mining and production firms. You also have the Van Eck Market Vectors Uranium + Nuclear Energy ETF, a market cap-weighted index of uranium players. Uranium, the key ingredient to nuclear power, has what is bitcoin mining been ignored since the bubble of 2006, but now the uranium price is rising again.