Daily Nuclear & Uranium Market Recap
3/13/26
Daily Nuclear & Uranium Market Recap
Friday, March 13, 2026
Market Overview
The nuclear and uranium complex ended the week with a broad, grinding selloff, especially in the core producer basket, even as uranium itself held steady. Uranium traded flat at $85.70/lb on March 12, down 4.25% over the past month but still 34.64% higher than a year ago, according to CFD pricing that tracks the benchmark market. March futures also settled at $85.70 yesterday, marking a full week of trading pinned in a narrow $85.70 to $85.90band. Uranium Spotlight’s March 10 update noted spot at $86.80/lb, with activity easing after a torrid start to the year: 146 spot transactions totaling about 16.3M lbs U33O88 year to date, more than 70% above the same period in 2025, but with the last two weeks seeing fewer deals and slightly softer pricing as financial buyers took profits near the mid $90s to $100 range.
Key Equity Movers, Winners
NuScale AI (NUAI) closed at $5.08, plus 3.30% on 2.7M shares, the top gainer in the group. Flows remain speculative and momentum driven.
Talen Energy (TLN) closed at $316.20, plus 1.53% on 606.8K shares, one of the few larger caps in the green as traders selectively added back IPP exposure after recent underperformance.
Ur Energy (URG) closed at $1.60, plus 0.61% on a heavy 9.7M shares. HC Wainwright today reiterated a Buy rating and a $2.30 price target for FY2026, projecting URG EPS of about minus $0.04 and emphasizing its leverage to North American ISR production and U.S. fuel security policy.
SMR closed at $11.80, plus 0.34% on 15.1M shares, a marginal positive print in an otherwise weak tape.
Everything else traded red, with selling most intense in core miners and higher beta fuel cycle names.
Core Miners and Fuel Cycle
Cameco (CCJ) closed at $107.80, minus 6.50% on 6.6M shares, the worst performer among large cap producers. CCJ has now fallen from $125.97 on March 2 to $107.80, a drawdown of about 14.4% in less than two weeks, despite spot uranium holding the mid $80s and Cameco’s own table still showing February spot at $86.95/lb, up sharply year over year. This is pure de rating and macro liquidation, not a thesis change.
Energy Fuels (UUUU) closed at $18.71, minus 5.60% on 9.6M shares, extending the post earnings reversal. The stock is now down roughly 20% from the $23.34 high printed after its Q4 beat and bullish 2026 margin guidance, even though the underlying uranium and rare earth strategy remains intact.
Denison (DNN) closed at $3.84, minus 4.26% on 59.4M shares, another huge volume day following yesterday’s flat close post FID. Commentary this week framed the reaction as classic “sell the news”: the 43% year to date rally into the Phoenix ISR FID had already priced in construction starting in March 2026, so the confirmation simply shifted focus to execution risks and capex rather than driving another leg higher. Denison’s own update targets site prep and construction start this month and first production around mid 2028, with a post FID initial capital estimate of about $600M.
Uranium Energy (UEC) closed at $13.53, minus 3.97% on 9.7M shares, backing off after its earnings pop earlier this week. UEC’s bull case remains fundamentally intact, with Q2 results confirming $101/lb realized prices on 200k lbs sold, $818M in liquid assets, zero debt, and 1.456M lbs of inventory, but the stock is still being used as a source of funds in the current risk off environment.
NexGen (NXE) closed at $12.30, minus 1.28% on 9.6M shares, drifting lower with the group.
Ur Energy (URG) as noted held up slightly green, helped by today’s supportive broker commentary.
Uranium Royalty (UROY) closed at $3.77, minus 2.58% on 3.8M shares, moving in line with the broader miner basket.
LEU closed at $210.06, minus 2.23% on 906.9K shares. This follows yesterday’s plus 7.0% bounce, leaving the stock still well below its pre Q4 levels even as analysts continue to highlight its long term position in enrichment and HALEU supply.
SMR, Advanced Reactors, and Isotopes
Oklo (OKLO) closed at $58.31, minus 2.15% on 5.8M shares, back near the lower end of its recent range, still down heavily from its 52 week high.
Nano Nuclear (NNE) closed at $22.79, minus 3.96% on 1.2M shares.
Lightbridge (LTBR) closed at $11.49, minus 2.71% on 563.2K shares.
NuScale AI (NUAI), while technically in the “AI plus infra” bucket, was one of the few green names today, up 3.30% as noted above.
ASP Isotopes (ASPI) closed at $5.25, minus 10.25% on 6.3M shares, the worst performer in today’s set. This comes after a strong run in recent sessions on the Quantum Leap Energy and HALEU narrative. Given the still elevated volume and prior outperformance, today’s move looks like a sharp sentiment reset rather than a fundamental reversal.
IPPs and Infrastructure
CEG closed at $301.29, minus 0.09% on 2.0M shares, essentially flat and continuing to act as a relative safe haven within the sector.
VST closed at $158.63, minus 0.60% on 3.7M shares, remaining heavy after recent earnings.
TLN closed at $316.20, plus 1.53% as noted, showing a rare day of outperformance in an otherwise weak tape.
BWXT closed at $195.31, minus 1.27%, and CW at $656.02, minus 3.57%, both reflecting broader industrial and defense stock pressure rather than sector specific news.
Bloom Energy (BE) closed at $154.20, minus 1.89% on 7.6M shares. After last week’s crash and this week’s rebound, BE is settling into a volatile range that tracks shifting sentiment on AI driven power demand and high valuation concerns.
Mirion (MIR) closed at $18.54, minus 7.46% on 8.1M shares, another large down move in what has become one of the most volatile names in the coverage universe.
Uranium Market Backdrop
Spot and futures: Uranium is holding in the mid $80s, with CFD prices and futures both marking $85.70/lb on March 12, down 4.25% over the past month but still about 35% higher year over year. This level aligns with the “healthy breather” zone described in early March, after the late January spike to around $101.50/lb and the subsequent pullback into the mid $80s.
Activity and flows: Uranium Spotlight noted that after a very strong start to 2026, spot market activity has cooled in the last two weeks, with weekly transactions slipping from the high teens to single digits and prices softening modestly across delivery locations. Financial buyers and traders had been dominant earlier in the year, but some have stepped back or taken profits as spot approached the mid $90s to $100 range, while the term market and conversion prices continue to firm.
SEQH Desk View
Today looked and felt like forced de‑risking, not a fundamental reset. CCJ minus 6.5%, UUUU minus 5.6%, DNN minus 4.3%, UEC minus 4.0%, ASPI minus 10.3%, all on heavy volume, contrasted against a uranium spot price that is basically unchanged at $85.70, up 35% year over year. The commodity and the long term contract market are not confirming the equity collapse. Instead, we are watching equities overshoot to the downside as macro stress (tariffs, rates, geopolitics) forces funds to cut gross exposure.
Denison is the cleanest example of a “priced in, now execute” story. Phoenix ISR is sanctioned, a $600M capex plan is on the table, and first production is targeted by mid 2028. The pre FID rally and this week’s heavy volume around $3.80 to $4.10 tell us the market has shifted from “if” to “how.” Near term, that means DNN trades like a levered uranium call on execution risk; longer term, the fundamental case is stronger than it was six months ago.
UEC, CCJ, and UUUU are all now trading at levels that assume something has broken in the cycle, yet uranium itself is still in the mid $80s and long term contracting continues to tighten. Unless spot breaks decisively below $80, that disconnect should set up one of the better risk rewarded re entry windows we have seen in this cycle.