Uranium

Nuclear power accounts for 5.7% of the world’s energy and 13% of the world’s electricity. Uranium, used in nuclear power, is a relatively clean source of energy that does not produce greenhouse emissions. Uranium is extremely dense – it is nearly as heavy as gold. It is, however, about 500 times more common than gold in the earth’s crust. This infographic covers the history of uranium, its properties, the supply and demand forecasts, the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power, uranium as an energy source, and military applications.

• Ackman Says Pershing Square Takes 9.8% Stake in Air Products (BBG) - So is APD Carl Icahn's biggest ever short yet
• Latest Hilsenplant: Summers Hedges His Doubts on Fed's Bond Buying (WSJ)
• China Stocks World’s Worst Losing $748 Billion on Slump (BBG)
• U.S. Spy Program Lifts Veil in Court (WSJ)
• Abenomics on the rock again: Japan July manufacturing PMI shows growth at 4-month low (Reuters)
• EADS to be renamed Airbus in shake-up (FT)
• Goldman's GSAM has significantly increased its exposure to European equities (FT) - there is a reason why this is Goldman's worst division
• Japanese Megabanks Post Mega Profit Gains (WSJ) - when one excludes MTM impact from rate surge of course
• Ex-workers sue Apple, seek overtime for daily bag searches (Reuters)
• Hong Kong Yuan Deposits Snap Eight-Month Increase on Cash Crunch (BBG)
• Downtown NYC Landlords Remake Offices in Shift From Banks (BBG)

As readers are well aware by now, at 8:30 am today we get to see the rewriting of US GDP history back to 1929 with the revisions from the BEA. It’s a big last day of July with the Fed meeting coming after the GDP release. For GDP, real growth is expected to be as low as 1.0% in Q2. Opinions vary widely on today’s GDP number with one major US investment bank’s estimate as low as 0.2%, a number of bulge bracket banks at 0.5% while there are also plenty of economists above 1.5%. It is not news to anyone that nominal GDP is very low at the moment - especially in a world of nosebleed high debts - and today could see this have a 1-handle YoY (and at best a 2-handle) - a level not even normally seen at the depths of most recessions.

Problem ... What Problem?

Those trading microcap uranium supplier USEC Inc (USU) were treated to a rare spectacle moments ago: one or a series of absolutely berserk algos took the stock up from $8 to nearly $16 in a wondrous example of momentum ignition, where one algo was telegraphing it knew something in a bid to get other algos to ramp the thinly traded stock , and succeeded. This move followed Friday's comparable surge by 70% on even more "no news." A circuit breaker halt followed and then the usual $1 bid/ask spreads as algo after algo was positioning to frontrun other algos, but by then all hell had broken loose. Volume as of moments ago: over 2 million on a stock that has ADV of under 100k. Management reiterated what it said on Friday, namely that it had no comment: "In view of the unusual market activity in the company’s stock, the New York Stock Exchange has contacted the company in accordance with its usual practice. The company stated that its policy is not to comment on unusual market activity" ensuring that the newsfree lunacy would continue.

Get It?

They still obfuscate and minimize the consequences of the triple melt-down at Fukushima Daiichi.

• An actual Bloomberg headline: Granny’s Gold Bars Are Key to Vietnam Push to Boost Dong (BBG)
• Gay delivers further body blow to troubled sport (Reuters)
• China Wealth Eludes Foreigners as Stocks Earn 1% in 20 Years (BBG)
• Bernanke Boom Signaled by Yield Surge as Market Recalculates (BBG)
• Portugal's Parties Set Deadline for Pact (WSJ)
• Corporate Spending Set to Surge in U.S. (BBG)... or not at all based on the actual corporate data
• Legal Fears Slowed Aid to Syrian Rebels (WSJ)
• A mega-camp adds to the Boy Scouts’ troubles (Reuters)
• GSK accused of being ‘ringleader’ in China probe (FT)
• 19 Hospitalized in US-Ukraine Army Exercise - Ministry (RIA)
• Egypt Islamists march as senior U.S. official visits (Reuters)
• German spies made use of U.S. surveillance data (Reuters)

Big Banks Move Into Uranium Mining, Petroleum Products, Aluminum, Ownership and Operation Of Airports, Toll Roads, and Ports, and Electricity

A conversation with a mining entrepreneur who succesfully built and sold a Mongolia Coal explorer.

• ‘Cov-lite’ loans soar in dash for yield (FT)
• Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt (Reuters)
• Obama Accepting Sequestration as Deficit Shrinks (BBG)
• Having done nothing to restore confidence in a fragmented market, the SEC turns back to main street fraud (WSJ)
• Europe's austerity-to-growth shift largely semantic (Reuters)
• Germany thwarts EU in China solar fight (FT)
• In EU-China dispute, Beijing warns of trade  (FT)
• U.S. Oil Boom Divides OPEC (WSJ)
• Record Cash Sent to Balanced Funds (BBG)
• Hilsenrath: Fed Wrestles With Market Expectations About Pace of QE (WSJ)
• Worse-Than-Cyprus Debt Load Means Caribbean Defaults to Moody’s (BBG)
• States Raise College Budgets After Years of Deep Cuts (WSJ)
• U.K. Banks Cut 189,000 With Employment at Nine-Year Low (BBG)

A 'second Economic Miracle' and other psychedelic feats, but inconvenient data gets in the way.

Natural resource speculators know that past uranium bull markets offered some ’explosive’ (pun intended) upside. I have been fortunate enough to experience two uranium bull markets: the 1970s bull market, which saw a tenfold increase in the uranium price and a hundredfold increase in some uranium equities, and the bull market of the last decade, which saw a repeat of the earlier performance.[1] If past is prologue, the stage may be set for a third uranium bull run.

• Apple reportedly stops placing Mac component orders (DigiTimes)
• Apple Ordered to Remove Obscene Content From China Store (BBG)
• Texas Ammonia-Plant Blast Kills as Many as 15 People (Reuters)
• Boston Probe Said Focused on Person Dropping Bag at Site (BBG)
• The Chinese cold trade war comes come to roost: US becomes Japan’s top export market (FT)
• Berlusconi, Bersani back Marini in presidential vote (Ansa)
• German parliament backs Cyprus bailout (Reuters)
• China Vows Wider Yuan Movement (WSJ)
• Morgan Stanley Sees Core Earnings Weaken (WSJ)
• Gold Miners Lose $169 Billion as Price Slump Adds ETF Pain (BBG)
• G-20 Draft Affirms Pledge to Avoid Competitive Devaluations (BBG)
• IMF warns on risks of excessive easing (FT)
• The battle for the Swiss soul (Reuters)

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