U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points at 8:35 AM EST.Index futures were unchanged following release of November Retail Sales at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus called for a decline of 0.1% versus a decline of 0.1% in October. Actual was an increase of 0.3%. Excluding auto sales, consensus called for a decline of 0.1% versus a gain of 0.1% in October. Actu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's voluntary two-month ban on rough purchases saw a dramatic reduction in imports during November, down 69 per cent from $1.02bn in October to $314m, according to new figures from the GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council). The moratorium ended on 15 December and is seen as a major reason for the recent uptick in diamond prices.IDEX's Polished...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Three people died and two were injured after a release of methane gas at Russia's biggest diamond mine.A criminal investigation is taking place into a possible violation of safety rules at Alrosa's Udachny deposit, in the Daldyn-Alakit kimberlite field, Yakutia.A commission led by a representative of Rostekhnadzor, Russia's Federal Service for Environmental, Technolo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Anglo American, parent company of loss-making De Beers, is being tipped as a takeover or merger target after its valuation dropped by over $30bn in under two years. Both the diamond and platinum markets have been in decline of late, and on Friday (8 December) Anglo announced it had drastically cut production forecasts for copper and had revised down predictions for other metal...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Diamond Worker Union Gujarat (DWUG) claims over half the state's 2.5m diamond workers are being denied minimum wage benefits guaranteed by labor laws. It is threatening a major protest unless its demands are met before Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opens the new Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) on Sunday 17 December.The DWUG claims wages have been cut by as much a...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 6 points at 8:35 AM EST.Index futures were unchanged following release of the November Producer Price Index at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was an increase of 0.1% versus a decline of 0.5% in October. Actual was unchanged. On a year-over-year basis, consensus was an increase of 1.0% versus a gain of 1.3% in October. Actual w...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Indian manufacturers are concerned about the G7's rollout of diamond sanctions on Russia, which is responsible for 30 per cent of global supply.The GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council), representing almost 10,000 members, says there should be more flexibility to miminize the impact of the new restrictions."We are not happy with the announced timeline for implemen...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Plunging lab grown prices mean some brides-to-be are now embarrassed by the size of their engagement ring, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).Rocks of two, three or more carats are becoming more and more common, leaving couples with a dilemma. Do they pretend they have the funds to buy a huge natural diamond, or admit it's a lab grown.The average retail pri...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Celebrity jeweler Benny Nisanov was held at gunpoint as raiders stole goods worth $1m from his New York store.Nisanov, 33, who trades as Benny Da Jeweler, is the go-to jeweler for rapper Casanova, as well as Ice Spice, Pop Smoke, P Diddy, Mary J Blige, Bobby Shmurda, Davido, French Montana, Lil TJay and Jake Paul. He told police the robbers threatened to shoot after bursting i...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 7 points at 8:35 AM ESTU.S. equity index futures added were unchanged following release of the November Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was unchanged versus unchanged in October. Actual was an increase of 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, consensus was an increase of 3.1% versus a gain of 3.2% in October....Read More
(IDEX Online) - The rough diamond market appears to have bottomed, said Petra, as it announced a 20 per cent hike in like-for-like prices at its October tender.The UK-based miner sold a total of $58.7m, a 45 per cent increase on the $40.5m it achieved for a similar number of carats at its previous tender.It said like-for-like prices were up by around 20 per cent and average per carat prices were u...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A guest at the five-star Ritz Hotel, in Paris, has been reunited with her $800,000 diamond ring, after it was found in a vacuum cleaner bag.The owner, an unnamed Malaysian businesswoman, contacted police on Friday (8 December) after it disappeared from a table while she went out shopping at Place V?(C)ndome. She returned at around noon and found the ring was missing.The immediate s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa says it has sold four diamonds from the Lulo mine, in Angola, for a total of $17m.The Type II gems, with a combined weight of 609 carats, achieved an average $28,000 per carat at tender.The Australian miner, which holds a 40 per cent stake in the alluvial deposit, said it was a very positive result.It said a 208.78 carat diamond fetched the highest price, although it did not...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 3 points at 8:30 AM EST.Macy's jumped $3.01 to $20.40 after Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management offered to acquire the company for $21 per share.Cigna advanced $34.75 to $293.55 after the company raised its stock buyback program by $10 billion.Palo Alto added $0.82 to $299.24 after JP Morgan raised its...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Vladimir Putin's press secretary has dismissed G7 sanctions on Russian diamonds as "hardly news".Dmitry Peskov (pictured) told reporters that Russian companies had been preparing for introduction of Western sanctions against its diamonds that were announced last Wednesday (6 December)."The sanctions on diamonds are hardly news," he said, according to a report by Tass, the stat...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is facing $100m of cuts to its annual overheads in the face of ongoing weak demand for diamonds.Parent company Anglo American said in an investor update on Friday (8 December) that the company has been loss-making in the second half of this year but was positioning itself for an expected bounce in demand.Despite early signs of a recovery, Anglo American's chief execut...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's diamond industry is to lift the voluntary ban on rough imports that was brought in on 15 October to stabilize the price of polished diamonds.The two-month suspension had shown "a positive impact" on prices, said the GJEPC (Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, as it announced the ban would end on 15 December.IDEX's Polished Price Index, the best indicator o...Read More
Equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 20 points at 8:35 AM ESTIndex futures dropped 12 points following release of the November Employment report at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for November Non-farm Payrolls was an increase to 180,000 from 150,000 in October. Actual was 199,000. Consensus for the November Unemployment Rate was unchanged at 3.9% from October. Actual...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The G7 nations finally announced sanctions on Russian diamonds yesterday (6 December) as part of a series of new measures aimed at restricting funds for its war against Ukraine."We will introduce import restrictions on non-industrial diamonds, mined, processed, or produced in Russia, by January 1, 2024, followed by further phased restrictions on the import of Russian diamonds proce...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Prices of rough rubies have more than doubled in the last two years, said Gemfields as it announced results of its latest sealed-bid auctions.The UK-based colored gems miner achieved an average $290 per carat earlier this month, compared to $132 in December 2021.Gemfields sold all 97 lots of mixed-quality rough rubies from the Montepuez mine, in Mozambique, in a series of seven onl...Read More