The Nuclear and Uranium industry was the biggest loser immediately following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The Global X Uranium ETF (URA) lost approximately 1/3 of it’s value in the two days following the quake as TV stations around the world had nonstop coverage of the nuclear reactor issues.

However, despite the terrifying threats to the safety of Japanese citizens one thing remains clear. Our growing world and the emerging middle class in developing countries require more and more electricity. If we are going to provide this electricity in a cost effective way without a dramatic increase in CO2 emissions then nuclear power is going to be an increasing part of the mix. China currently has plans to build 40 nuclear power plants and despite incidents like this one, they have no choice but to move ahead. Therefore, many investors are using this as an opportunity to invest in the industry.

URA is a diversified way to get involved as it’s holdings are split among 23 industry leaders with over 72% of the assets in the Top 10 holdings.

Currently the Top 10 Holdings are:

Cameco Corp., 18.21%
Uranium One Inc., 12.32%
Paladin Resources Ltd., 10.88%
Denison Mines Corp., 5.6%
Uranium Energy Corp., 4.88%
Kalahari Minterals Plc, 4.76%
Extract Resources Ltd., 4.6%
USEC Inc., 3.79%
Hathor Exploration Ltd., 3.6%
Uranium Resources Inc., 3.59%


Geographically the fund is invested in the following countries:

Canada, 51.01%
Australia, 28.31%
United States, 12.26%
United Kingdom, 4.76%
South Africa, 3.43%

The Uranium ETF – URA has an annual expense ratio of .69% (69 basis points) and has been trading since November 4, 2010. You can see by the chart below that things were going well until the Japanese earthquake. It then plunged below it’s opening price but has since began to recover.

Global X Uranium ETF - URA

If you believe as I do that nuclear energy will play an important role in world energy production then you should take some time to learn more about this Uranium ETF.