(IDEX Online) - Elton John's yellow gold leopard print Rolex Daytona sold for $176,400 at Christie's New York, smashing its pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.The watch, set with diamonds and orange sapphires, was the highlight of a collection that included 13 Cartiers, five Chopards, four Hublots, two Audemars Piguets and two Franck Mullers. The Rolex Daytona set a new world auctio...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Kimberley Process (KP) is considering moves to reinstate parts of the Central African Republic's (CAR) diamond trade.A temporary ban on the import and export of rough diamonds was imposed by the KP in 2013, after yet another coup - the sixth since it gained independence from France in 1960.Eight of the country's 24 subprefectures have since been approved for diamond e...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers suffered a drop in revenue of almost 36 per cent in 2023, down from $6.6bn to $4.3bn.It blamed a rise in polished diamond inventories, increases in inflation and interest rates, macro-economic challenges an the rising supply of lab growns.The UK-based miner expects industry conditions to remain challenging in the short term. But the long-term outlook is favorable, it says...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 7 points at 8:30 AM EST.Intuit dropped $8.92 to $649.00 after offering guidance below consensus.Booking Holdings dropped $163.36 to $3738.63 after reporting less than consensus fourth quarter earnings.Block gained $7.36 to $75.32 after reporting a surprise fourth quarter profit.Carvana advanced $11.60 to $63.60 after o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA says it has expanded its new verification service - aimed at combating "cloned diamond" fraud - to all its labs.The Report Confirmation Service was launched last month in New York to identify lab growns being submitted for regrading as natural diamonds.GIA says the service is now available at all locations. It will accept walk-in and courier submissions, will turn around loose...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) says it is still pursuing its fight against the so-called Belgian Plan, which would route all G7 diamonds through a single entry point in Antwerp.The newest phase of sanctions on Russia diamonds (over 1-ct, cut and polished anywhere) is due to be implemented on 1 March, although details of how it will operate have yet to be made public...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Anglo American is to cut 3,700 jobs in its platinum division after profits plunged. It blames "macroeconomic uncertainty", and a 35 per cent fall in price of platinum group metals (PGM), which are used in catalytic converters as well as jewelry (electric cars don't use catalytic converters).Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) profits for 2023 were down 71 per cent to ?586m...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara yesterday (21 February) announced the recovery of a 320-carat diamond from its Karowe mine, in Botswana, together with a 111-carat stone, and two +50-carat stones.The Vancouver-based miner has now recovered 330 +100-ct diamonds since the mine began commercial production in 2012.The 320-carat recovery is described as "a stunning, gem-quality, top light brown diamond". The oth...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 64 points at 8:35 AM EST.The Canadian Dollar was unchanged at US74.11 cents following release of Canada's December Retail Sales report at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was an increase of 0.8% versus a decline of 0.2% in November. Actual was an increase of 0.9%. Excluding auto sales, consensus was an increase of 0.7% versus un...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA has, for the first time, opened a grading lab in Dubai.It will offer its services to over 1,150 diamond companies at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).The move follows GIA's closure of its Antwerp lab in July 2022, which was deemed to be economically unviable.It reflects "Dubai's status as a global hub for business," said DMCC in a statement.The new GIA lab op...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra saw sales slide by 10 per cent during the second half of 2023 amid ongoing uncertainty in the diamond market.The UK-based miner said prices had now bottomed, but the recovery may be slower than first thought. "Petra has reacted swiftly to diamond market uncertainty, taking steps to improve resilience through ongoing cost and capital optimisation," said CEO Richard Duffy....Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 18 points at 8:30 AM ESTEconomic focus today is on FOMC Meeting Minutes released at 2:00 PM EST.Changes in Dow Jones Averages effective February 26th: Walgreen Boots is replaced by Amazon.com in the Industrial Average. JetBlue is replaced by Uber in the Transportation Average.Palo Alto dropped $47.29 to $319.00 after...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The growth in Swiss watch exports slowed in January after ending 2023 on a high.Foreign sales increased by 5.5 per cent in December, following on from the "highest-ever monthly level" of exports in November, at almost CHF2.5bn ($2.95bn).January's sales were CHF1.9bn ($2.16bn), a year-on-year increase of 3.1 per cent."While the growth in Swiss watch exports continued to slow, i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry belonging to Steve McQueen's first wife, Neile Adams, sold at auction for just over $200,000 at Bonhams' California Jewels sale.Leading the sale was a platinum ring (pictured) set with a a 3.80-carat old European-cut diamond. McQueen, best known for The Great Escape in 1963, bought it for himself, then decided it would suit his wife better, so he gave it to her.It...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds is enjoying a reversal in its fortunes after recovering it third +100-ct stone of 2024 - a high-quality 113-ct Type IIa diamond.In the whole of 2023 the UK-based miner recovered a total of just five +100-cts stones, well down on its its long-term average of eight a year.In January Gem recovered two diamonds - weighing 129-cts and 295-cts - from the Letseng mine, in Les...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 18 points at 8:35 AM EST.The Canadian Dollar dropped 0.20 to US74.00 cents following release of Canada's January Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was an increase of 0.4% versus a decline of 0.3% in December. Actual was unchanged. On a year-over-year basis, consensus was an increase of 3.2% versus a gain...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara's on-off deal for HB Antwerp to sell its specials from the Karowe mine, Botswana, is back on again.The Canadian miner yesterday (18 February) announced details of a 10-year deal that is very similar to the one it abruptly ended last September.Lucara was less than a year into a 10-year agreement when it pulled the plug, accusing HB of "a material breach of financial comm...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Namibia's rough diamond production increased by 9 per cent during 2023 to 2.33m carats.Marine diamonds, which account for the majority of its output, were up 8 per cent to 1.86m carats, according to Debmarine Namibia figures.Land-based production, overseen by Namdeb, increased 14 per cent to 468,000 carats.Despite the overall annual increase, fourth quarter output for land and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra sold $47.8m of diamonds at its February tender, down 30 per cent on December 2023 ($67.9m).Like-for-like prices increased by 4 per cent the company said, but average price per carat fell 15 per cent, from $131 to $112.The UK-based miner said it achieved higher prices across all size categories except 5-cts to 10.8-cts, where prices were largely flat compared to the previous t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - When only the most luxurious door lock pins will do, Mercedes has the answer.It has embedded a 0.25 carat diamond into all four in the "Stronger than Diamonds" limited edition of its $143,000-plus G550 model, which launched on Valentine's Day. It did not provide details of cut, color or clarity. But due an unfortunate error its press release said there was a "25-carat dia...Read More