The big boys getting in to uranium?https://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=https://www.nypost.com/seven/04252007/business/street_puts_energy_behind_uranium_business_zachery_kouwe.htm
NY Post article
STREET PUTS ENERGY BEHIND URANIUM
By ZACHERY KOUWE
April 25, 2007 -- In a bet on the revival of nuclear energy, Wall Street giants including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are set to move mountains of cash into uranium when it starts trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange next month.
The price of uranium has skyrocketed over the past year from around $40 a pound to around $113 as demand has outstripped supply. Goldman and other investors including hedge funds see big opportunities trading uranium because of its high level of volatility.
Uranium, which is mined by only by a few companies such as Canada's Cameco Corp., is the main commodity used in nuclear power plants. It is not currently traded on an exchange and its price is hard to determine because transactions are private and infrequent.
The price fluctuations have frustrated nuclear power plant operators, who complain that the current spot market is inefficient and provides little price transparency.
The Nymex hopes to capitalize on the desire for a more institutionalized uranium market as well as the appetite in the hedge fund community for more investment products.
The newly created uranium futures contract will begin trading on the Nymex's electronic system on May 7, according to the exchange's VP of marketing Randy Warsager. Most of the Nymex's products are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex system under a joint agreement between the two markets.
A bevy of hedge funds including Citadel Investment Group, GLG Partners and Fortress Investment Group have set up teams to begin trading uranium. Other traders will include owners of nuclear facilities including Duke Energy, Exelon Corp., and electronic futures broker Alaron Trading.