What happened
Easy come, easy go.
Shares of uranium mining stocks that popped earlier this week, on news that a Senate committee advanced legislation to create a U.S. national strategic uranium reserve, are moving in the opposite direction today. As of 3:30 p.m. EST, shares of Uranium Energy (UEC -0.59%) -- the biggest mover in the group Monday -- are down 7.7%, while Energy Fuels (UUUU -0.17%) -- Monday's second-biggest gainer -- are down 9.8%.
Denison Mines (DNN -1.00%) and Cameco (CCJ -0.14%), both of which posted smaller moves on the Senate news earlier, are both down today as well -- just not as much.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
That's the bad news, now here's the good news: There is no bad news. So far as I can tell, none of the above names had any bad news to report today, and no one on Wall Street has said anything askance the uranium stocks, either.
Actually, the reverse is true. This morning, Bloomberg cited GLJ Research analysts calling the uranium market a "sellers market" in which prices are rising, and profits should follow. Moreover, GLJ predicts that "sidelined" energy investors are preparing to resume investing in uranium based on anticipated supply deficits -- and, of course, possible legislative action.
Now what
So why are Uranium Energy and Energy Fuels down so much today, and why are Cameco and Denison going down with them? In the absence of any real news to explain the drops, this looks to me like a simple case of profit taking by traders who profited from Monday's pop -- and if that's the case, then you can probably expect these traders to come back for a second helping as (or at least if) the Senate's strategic uranium reserve bill progresses toward law.
