Trump Says We 'Must Greatly Strengthen, Expand Nuclear Capability'

President-elect Donald Trump moved stocks again with a tweet.

At 11:50 a.m. ET, Trump sent out a Twitter Inc TWTR message that read, "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."

Uranium stocks spiked shortly after; The silvery-white metal has unique nuclear properties that allow it to be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 using a nuclear reactor.

• Uranium Resources, Inc. URRE gained more than 12.8 percent
• Liberty Star Uranium & Metals Corp. LBSR surged 15.35 percent.
• Ur-Energy Inc. (USA) URG spiked up sharply before falling again.
• Uranium Energy Corp. UEC rose 4.2 percent.
• Energy Fuels Inc (USA) UUUU posted modest gains.

A Penchant For Nuclear Power

A few months ago, while talking with a foreign policy expert, Trump allegedly asked over and over again, "Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?"

On several other occasions, he declared he wasn't taking the use of nuclear weapons off the table, even suggesting he wouldn't discard attacking Europe, if necessary. It's important to be “unpredictable” with nuclear weapons, Trump has said in other instances.