It’s a great morning for everything connected to China — not just Chinese stocks but also commodities, luxury-goods makers and the like — after a new monetary stimulus plan was announced in Beijing. More on that later.

There’s genuine excitement in the air around nuclear power, heightened by Constellation Energy CEG announcing it was restarting a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island under a power-purchase agreement with Microsoft Corp. MSFT, and Monday’s announcement from 14 institutions to finance a tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

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Right on cue comes a report from UBS — interestingly, not one of the 14 institutions — arguing a faster nuclear rollout is possible. They say that not because of the tripling goal but because of simple demand, particularly for datacenters to support the growth of artificial intelligence.

It’ll take some work — nuclear’s share of global power generation slumped to 10% in 2021 from 17% in 1990, and much of that dwindling share is powered through aging reactors. Accidents, waste disposal concerns and, perhaps most importantly, costs, have all hampered nuclear output.

Construction times for new reactors also are an issue — a new reactor in Finland took 16 years to complete. But sentiment is changing. “The conversation around nuclear energy has, in a relatively (very) short space of time, completely reversed. We find it difficult to overstate the magnitude of the shift,” says a new 81-page report from the Swiss bank, written by 44 analysts across multiple continents.

The UBS report says it’s not just technology sector demand but also the backstopping from governments that can push nuclear forward. “We have long argued that complicated sustainability issues cannot be solved by the private or public sector in isolation; a coordinated approach is required. Is this a given? No, but neither are we inclined to rule it out completely,” the report says. In China, where the government has given nuclear a push, nuclear’s levelized cost of electricity is almost on par with other technologies.

UBS says its analysis is that nuclear capacity can grow at a 2.1% to 3% annual growth rate between now and 2030. That would require 1.8 times current uranium production levels by 2030, and 2.9 times by 2050.

That’s music to the ears of uranium investors, and the UBS team also identifies companies in the supply chain. In North America, that list includes Emerson EMR, Flowserve FLS, Fluor FLR, NuScale SMR, Constellation Energy, Vistra VST, PSEG PEG and Crane CR.

By company exposure to nuclear power, that list is topped by CGN Power HK:1816, China National Nuclear Power CN:601985, NuScale and Constellation Energy with 50% to 100% exposure to nuclear, and a 10% to 50% exposure grouping features Kepco KR:052690, Centrica UK:CNA, CEZ CZ:CEZ, Fortum FI:FORTUM, Public Service Enterprise and Vistra.

Besides costs and safety, another factor that could hamper nuclear would be the emergence of nuclear fusion. Companies investing in that potentially breakthrough technology include Eni IT:ENI, Equinor NO:EQNR and Shell UK:SHEL. “If and when it becomes commercially available, many current technologies, including existing nuclear reactors, could potentially become obsolete,” they say.

The market

U.S. stock index futures ES00 NQ00 rose early Tuesday. Oil futures CL00 surged on the China stimulus announcement.

The buzz

China announced a package that includes interest-rate cuts, reduced reserve requirements and measures to boost the stock market, sending Chinese stocks higher and also boosting companies that sell to the second-largest economy including Tesla TSLA and LVMH FR:MC.

The latest U.S. house price measure from S&P/Case-Shiller showed prices in 20 key cities up 5.9% year-over-year through July. Consumer confidence data is due at 10 a.m.

Starbucks SBUX was downgraded to underperform at Jefferies, as it says fiscal 2025 estimates from Wall Street are too high.

Liberty Broadband LBRDK proposed a merger deal with Charter Communications CHTR.

AutoZone AZO missed expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Snowflake SNOW announced a $2 billion convertible bond offering, while Hawaiian Electric Industries HE stock tumbled on an equity offering to help settle wildfire litigation.

Visa V is reportedly facing a U.S. Justice Department antitrust case on debit cards, according to Bloomberg News.

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Investors clinging to cash face these two risks as the Fed cuts interest rates.

Wall Street’s future? Goldman’s old headquarters have been converted into apartments.

Top economist in China vanishes after private WeChat comments.

The chart

This chart, from the blog Calculated Risk, shows that inbound container traffic at the key ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. are booming — while outbound traffic is stagnant. “In general, it appears port traffic is returning to the pre-pandemic patterns – although this was a very strong August for imports as retailers prepare for holiday shopping – and possibly to beat any increase in tariffs,” says the blog.

Top tickers

Here were the most active stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern.

Random reads

A zoo admits its pandas are actually painted dogs.

A hive with more than 40,000 bees grew within the walls of a farmhouse in Maine.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin debuted a new song at a Las Vegas karaoke bar, in disguise.

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