With TradeTech's uranium spot price holding at US$113 per pound uranium oxide (U3O8), market participants are waiting to see if the launch of uranium futures contracts will bring more price volatility to a market that has already witnessed record price increases over the past two years.

The new NYMEX futures market will involve financially settled contracts that are separate from the physical uranium market. This separation between the financial and physical markets has led to skepticism among those with experience in the uranium market. "They don't see how such a market could take hold, given the lack of the basic elements for such a market to evolve -- a liquid spot market and the absence of a linkage to the physical market for the commodity," TradeTech CEO Gene Clark explained in an interview with Dow Jones MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/uraniums-set-make-waves-futures/story.aspx?guid=%7B04534340%2D989E%2D43ED%2DB93D%2D1CEC856F39BF%7D).

Linkage to the physical market is "nearly universally the case in other futures markets," he added. And, "with the NYMEX futures market being purely a financial instrument, it runs the danger of diverging significantly from the physical market."

The NYMEX futures market potentially sets the stage for a very interesting battle between traditional uranium market participants and a new set of players. The traditional players have no interest in market transparency and liquidity. In fact, transparency is generally very limited within the uranium market since it has traditionally been traded only between end users, such as electric utility fuel managers and uranium producers, according to Clark.

A recent survey by StockInterview.com revealed that the majority of respondents believe a futures market could lead to further price volatility in the uranium market. Complete survey results are available at: Stockinterview.com.

TradeTech, and its predecessor companies -- NUEXCO Information Services, CONCORD Information Services, and CONCORD Trading Company -- has supported the uranium and nuclear fuel cycle industry for more than 35 years, and is widely recognized for its expertise in trading activities and its comprehensive knowledge of the technical, economic and political factors affecting this industry. TradeTech provides expert market consulting, participates in the buying and selling of uranium products and services, and maintains an extensive information database on these industries. TradeTech publishes the Nuclear Market Review each Friday and The Nuclear Review, a monthly trade publication dedicated to the international uranium and nuclear energy industry.

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