(IDEX Online) - Russia's finance ministry has hit out at G7 plans to sanction its diamonds, claiming it will discredit and undermine the existing Kimberley Process (KP).In a strongly-worded letter it claims Western countries, the G7 and the EU will deliberately distort the global rough diamond market if they implement their own regulations, which could, it warns "lead to increased social unre...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 34 points at 8:30 AM EDT.Qualcomm advanced $4.00 to $114.86 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal fourth quarter results. The company also raised fiscal first quarter guidance. DoorDash gained $5.58 to $81.50 after reporting higher than consensus third quarter earnings. PayPal added $0.59 to $52.25 after reporti...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two workers have been accused of stealing $670,000 of diamonds from their employer in Mumbai, India.They are alleged to have helped themselves to gems they were showing to clients.The owner of JB & Brothers, which has an office at the Bharat Diamond Bourse, Bandra-Kurla Complex, filed a complaint with the police after discovering the alleged fraud.Officers are looking out for t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - There were swathes of price drops during October, especially among rounds. Indian manufacturers are being urged to support a voluntary ban on rough purchases (15 October to 15 December).Alrosa halted all rough sales during September and October, and Okavango, Botswana's state-owned diamond company, announced last week that it was doing likewise, cancelling its November auction...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of Chinese consumers believe natural diamonds are more valuable than lab growns according to research for Chow Tai Fook.The jewelry group, which has over 7,200 outlets, says natural diamonds will continue to dominate the market, thanks to consumer demand.It has just published its first Jewellery Consumer Trends Report, based on a survey of 5,000...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 1 point at 8:35 AM EDT.S&P 500 Index futures recovered 12 points following the Treasury Department's refunding announcement at 8:30 AM Paycom Software dropped $76.92 to $168.05 after the company reduced guidance below consensus for 2024.Yum China dropped $4.91 to $47.65 after reporting less than consensus third qu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet Jewelers has pledged to raise another $100m for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.The biggest jewelry retailer in the US, with over 2,800 outlets and global sales of $8.32bn last year, says it will continue its support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and has eight affiliate clinics.Signet has r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) yesterday (30 October) released a video calling on the industry to stand united with Israel in the wake of the Hamas massacre that claimed over 1,400 lives.The terror attack of October 7 was not only an attack on Israel, says IDE, but also on the shared values on which the world diamond community is based, namely peace, justice, freedom, and brothe...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds has recovered its four and fifth +100-ct diamonds of the year at its Letseng mine, in Lesotho.The UK-based miner yesterday (30 October) announced it had found two "high quality" stones, both Type IIa D color diamonds, weighing 117.47 carats and 110 carats.Letseng, known as the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world, saw its revenue from rough sal...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 8 points at 8:35 AM EDT.The Canadian Dollar slipped 0.06 to US72.26 cents following release of Canada's August GDP at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.1% versus no change in July. Actual was no change. On a year-over-year basis consensus was an increase of 0.9 versus a gain of 1.1% in July. Actual was an inc...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gross exports of polished diamonds fell again during September, compared with the same month in 2022.But actual foreign sales in dollars are increasing month on month, according to new figures from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Exports during September were $1.67bn, up almost 19 per cent on August. In turn August exports were up almost...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Kering, the French luxury group that owns Boucheron and other high jewelry maisons, suffered a a 13 per cent decline in Q3 sales.Group revenue was down to to ?,?4.46bn ($4.72bn) in the face of what it called "challenging macroeconomic conditions and softening demand across the luxury industry".Revenue from its fashion brands - Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta - al...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Exports of Swiss watches grew again during September, driven by a huge 24 per cent increase in Hong Kong, the world's third biggest market.But sales in the US, representing about a sixth of demand globally, slipped by 6.4 per cent to CHF 344.7m ($381m) following a 13.5 per cent rise in August, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS).China showed s...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 24 points at 8:30 AM EDT.McDonald's gained $5.79 to $261.55 after reporting higher than consensus third quarter results. Krispy Kreme slipped $0.18 to $12.68 after Truist downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.Newell Brands dropped $0.06 to $6.60 after Truist and JP Morgan downgraded the stock. Air Canada is expected to...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A jeweler was robbed at gunpoint hours after he posted a $150,000 Patek Philippe watch for sale on Instagram.Two men waited outside his store, at Jeweler's Row, in the center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and followed him to his home 30 miles away in Newtown, Bucks County."They sat outside of our store for three hours, where I had walked in and out of the store a few tim...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's Greenlab Diamonds has signed a $120m deal to manufacture lab growns for Saudi Arabia's Dana Al Alami Jewelry.Greenlab has four factories in Surat producing 200,000 carats of lab growns a month. It also the company that grew the 7.5-carat diamond that India's prime minister Narendra Modi presented to US First Lady Jill Biden Prime during a state visit in June....Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers says its full-year production forecast for 2023 remains unchanged - at 30m to 33m carats - despite a 23 per cent drop in Q3 output.Most of that was because of its Venetia mine, in South Africa, switching from open-pit to underground production. Output there fell 78 per cent, from 1.65m carats in Q3 2022 to 365,000 carats.Overall De Beers' production fell from 9.1m car...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 18 points at 8:35 AM EDT.S&P 500 Index futures added 7 points following release of the September Core PCE Price Index. Consensus was an increase of 0.3% versus a gain of 0.1% in August. Actual was an increase of 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, consensus was an increase 3.7% versus a gain of 3.9% in August. Actual...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Charles Michel, President of the European Council, said the G7 and EU were committed to taking coordinated action to curb Russia's earnings from the diamond trade.He told 450 delegates at the FACETS 2023 Diamonds For Change conference in Botswana yesterday (25 October): "Natural resources should never finance war or human rights abuses. Rather they should breathe life into pea...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fancy color diamonds saw a second quarter of slower growth, according to the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) but remained well ahead of colorless diamonds, which are in long-term decline. The FCRF Index, which tracks prices across all colors, sizes and intensities, rose by 0.4 per cent during Q3, compared with increases of 0.5 per cent in Q2 and 1.3 per cent in Q...Read More