The Not-So-Stealth Rally In Uranium

It may have been quiet to start, but it is no longer. The rally in uranium prices that is. Just a few days ago, uranium futures touched $61 a pound, up from $40 last June. Add to that, uranium futures have surged almost 20% in the past month. For the conspiracy theorists out there, this move coincides with the debut of the Global X Uranium ETF URA. ETFs backed by physical commodities have been popular targets of critics that complain these ETFs, such as those backed by physical gold and silver, artificially run up the price of those commodities. That's not a relevant accusation with URA because the ETF isn't a third-world dictator, meaning it doesn't hold physical uranium. On other hand, there might just be something to this uranium rally. At least one analyst has forecasted prices of $80 per pound within a year and investors seem to be buying into that thesis. URA has accumulated almost $105 million in AUM in just one month of trading. That gives Global X five ETFs with over $100 in AUM out of a lineup of less than 20 funds and three of those funds are just a few months old. Uranium may not be the fuel of choice here in the U.S., but there is no getting around the bullish near-term potential in URA.