News of a reboot in Japanese nuclear reactors sent one uranium ETF to double-digit gains.
The Global X Uranium ETF (URA | C-93) rallied nearly 12 percent in the past week following news of a reboot in Japanese nuclear reactors after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant that resulted in the evacuation of some 300,000 people in the area.
The rebooting of Japanese power plants is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plans to add nuclear power back into Japan’s energy grid after he took office in late 2012. The move could help alleviate Japan’s record-high trade deficit by trimming the country’s need to rely on imported fossil fuels.
Japanese exports rose 9.5 percent to $5.25 trillion yen in January, but imports also rose to the tune of 25 percent to 8.04 trillion yen, a record amount. The figures meant Japan’s trade balance deficit hit 2.79 trillion yen ($27.30 billion), according to data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance.
URA’s 11.8 percent return amounted to last week’s strongest ETF performance. Behind it were a pair of biotech ETFs, including the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology (FBT | B-22) and the SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI | A-42), which gained 8.7 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.
These gains came as the S&P 500 edged higher to 1,854.29 from 1,847.61 the previous week, based in part on Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen’s congressional testimony that weather played a role in recent weak housing and manufacturing data.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| URA | Global X Uranium | 11.82% | 2,473,783 | 208.27 |
| FBT | First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology | 8.65% | 1,051,638 | 1,276.28 |
| XBI | SPDR S&P Biotech | 8.27% | 2,335,912 | 1,527.32 |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | 6.69% | 3,695,685 | 518.80 |
| QCLN | First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy | 6.47% | 1,204,024 | 174.01 |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | 6.37% | 48,512 | 27.08 |
| ITB | iShares U.S. Home Construction | 5.97% | 27,041,599 | 1,830.97 |
| GEX | Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy | 5.71% | 82,499 | 105.42 |
| XHB | SPDR S&P Homebuilders | 5.28% | 28,782,873 | 2,243.92 |
| PSCD | PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary | 5.11% | 63,175 | 116.11 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -8.28% | 131,814,174 | 813.60 |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -7.62% | 747,112 | 35.88 |
| ASHR | db X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares | -6.98% | 1,032,759 | 165.02 |
| PEK | Market Vectors ChinaAMC A-Share | -6.93% | 91,935 | 28.12 |
| GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | -6.86% | 221,298 | 2.09 |
| NAGS | Teucrium Natural Gas | -5.78% | 19,785 | 2.02 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | -5.50% | 129,496 | 22.00 |
| CHNA | PowerShares China A-Share | -5.49% | 1,138 | 2.19 |
| DCNG | iPath Pure Beta Seasonal Natural Gas ETN | -4.90% | 1,286 | 7.80 |
| TUR | iShares MSCI Turkey | -4.61% | 2,634,388 | 503.76 |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
