A series of announcements made by US President Donald Trump, aimed at revitalising the nuclear energy industry, have been described as “the cherry on top” of an already compelling investment case for uranium, according to Betashares senior investment strategist Cameron Gleeson.
Namely, on Friday, Trump signed several executive orders which included overhauling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expedite reactor licensing, promoting the development of advanced nuclear reactors and boosting domestic uranium production to reduce reliance on foreign sources.
Concurrently, Trump took steps to roll back green energy subsidies associated with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Speaking to InvestorDaily, Gleeson said: “President Trump’s latest announcement to spur the growth of the US nuclear power station fleet and the proposed rollback of green energy subsidies associated with the Inflation Reduction Act has jolted the uranium market back into gear.”
Spot uranium prices, which had been declining since early 2024 amid waning institutional interest, are now firmly back in focus, with Gleeson asserting that Trump’s announcements didn’t create the uranium opportunity but rather amplified it.
“[Attention is] now firmly back on deregulation, cutting the time and cost to build a nuclear plant in the US and expanding domestic uranium enrichment capacity,” Gleeson said.
This, he noted, “might just be the catalyst that transforms the uranium market’s long-term potential”.
“The prospect of further construction of nuclear power stations in the United States as a result of President Trump’s regulatory easement has put a rocket under uranium stocks in recent days,” Gleeson added.
According to the investment strategist, the policy shift has arrived at a time when the uranium sector had already been experiencing renewed investor interest.
Over the past 12 months, global uranium exchange-traded funds (ETFs) received more than US$1.5 billion in net flows, bringing total funds under management to US$7.6 billion.
Australian uranium ETFs have reflected the same momentum, now boasting over $177 million in funds under management, with a $4.4 million boost coming in since Trump’s regulatory easement last week.
In fact, according to data from Betashares, Monday, 26 May marked the strongest level of buying all year.
However, the case for uranium extends well beyond the US, Gleeson said, with China and India at the forefront of the global nuclear buildout.
At the same time, ongoing supply constraints continue to support a long-term bullish outlook.
“China and India have long planned a significant build out of their nuclear power fleet, but with the United States taking concrete steps to join them, the structurally constrained market for uranium is set to get tighter,” he said.
“Uranium is a resource which is difficult to mine… If you’re a uranium mine producing ore, you’re in a good position, and you’re not going to see this massive increase of a supply response as a result of that growth in demand.”
Looking ahead, despite recent market volatility and the emergence of DeepSeek – which sparked concerns about reduced energy demand from AI data centres – Gleeson maintains that the core investment thesis for uranium remains strong.
Betashares has long held the view that the combination of a major nuclear power buildout in emerging markets and structurally constrained supply would create a lasting tailwind for the uranium sector, Gleeson said.
He further told InvestorDaily that the long-term tailwind for the sector is now “absolutely” there.
As for uranium-exposed ETFs, Gleeson said their diversified, sector-specific exposure offers a safer alternative to attempting to time the market with individual uranium stocks.
As at 5pm Wednesday (AEDT), the spot uranium price stood at some US$72.0, up from US$64.8 a day before Trump’s latest announcements.
