Understanding the ETFs in our Morning Wrap
The 'Industry ETFs' table in Morning Wrap features over a dozen ETFs. What are they and how can this help improve my investing routine?
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Our Morning Wrap features a table of US-listed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) used to gauge how specific ASX sectors will perform in the upcoming session.
Investors typically look at how the S&P 500 or Dow performed overnight, and if it had a strong session, the local market usually follows suit. But we can take this logic further. Rather than relying on broad indices like the S&P 500, which have different compositions to local sectors, we track specific ETFs that more closely mirror specific sectors/sub-sectors.
If you already know the concept and just want to see the full list of ETFs, you can check it out here.
A working example: Uranium
Our ETF watchlist features the Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE: URA), which gives investors exposure to a broad range of companies involved in uranium mining and the production of nuclear components.
The top holdings for the ETF (% of net assets as at December 2025) include:
Canada's Cameco (22.49%), one of the largest global providers of uranium fuel
US-based Oklo (12.76%) designs small modular reactors
US uranium miner Uranium Energy Corp (6.44%)
Sprott's Physical Uranium Trust (5.50%), which literally invests in physical uranium
Canada's NexGen Energy (5.13%), which is also listed on the ASX
ASX-listed names including Paladin Energy (2.3%), BHP (1.9%), Silex Systems (1.1%) and Deep Yellow (1.0%)
If the URA ETF rallies 8% overnight, you can assume something bullish has happened to the sector. It also suggests local uranium stocks like Paladin Energy, Boss Energy and Deep Yellow will likely have a strong session.
In 2024, I ran an experiment tracking what happened to Deep Yellow in the following session whenever the URA ETF rallied 4.5% or more.
Between January 2023 and August 2024, the URA ETF gained 4.5% or more on six occasions. Every single time, Deep Yellow opened higher and continued to rally throughout the session.
Date | URA % Chg | DYL Open | DYL Close | Open vs. Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6/01/2023 | 5.3% | 3.6% | 6.4% | 2.9% |
1/06/2023 | 6% | 3.9% | 12.6% | 8.7% |
25/09/2023 | 4.6% | 1.2% | 6.2% | 5.0% |
12/01/2024 | 7% | 4.9% | 11.6% | 6.7% |
1/02/2024 | 6.2% | 7.4% | 12.8% | 5.4% |
23/08/2024 | 7% | 11.0% | 17.0% | 6.0% |
Source: Author's own calculations
On average, Deep Yellow opened 5.3% higher and finished the session up 11.1%. Put simply, buying $100,000 worth of shares at the open and selling at the close would have netted an average $5,800 profit. This pattern may shift over time due to factors like short interest (most local uranium names were heavily shorted during this period) and crowding.
Some more examples
A 2% move in the copper price doesn't always translate to a 2% move for copper miners. Copper might be bouncing 2% after a long losing streak, which hardly inspires confidence, so miners might edge only slightly higher in response. Alternatively, it could be a 2% move to all-time highs after months of trading sideways. This breakout could pump euphoria into equities, driving an outsized move for copper miners. This is why we use the Global X Copper Miners ETF to gauge how copper stocks are tracking.
Hyperscalers and AI-related plays dominate the tech-heavy Nasdaq, so a Nasdaq rally doesn't necessarily mean the local Aussie tech sector (which is software heavy) will trade higher. ETFs like the Cloud Computing, FinTech and Data Centre ETFs are more aligned with local heavyweights like Wisetech, Xero and NextDC.
The bottom line
These ETFs can take your pre-market analysis to the next level because they are very sector-specific and take out the guesswork as to how they may perform.
You can find the full list of ETFs here.
