(IDEX Online) - Matching gold wedding rings that belonged to Hollywood icons Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are to be auctioned in Los Angeles.The couple exchanged the rings when they married in May 1945 after falling in love during filming of To Have and Have Not when she was 19 and he was 45. They remained together until Bogart's death in January 1957. Bacall died in 2014.The 14k go...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The gap between rounds and fancies widened during August. Rounds saw almost wall-to-wall price drops among some goods, such as 1.50-cts to 1.99-cts. Fancies, by contrast, saw a mix of increases, decreases and no-changes, as buyers sought cheaper goods.Caution persists across the pipeline. Inventories are high, demand is weak and prices are falling. India's exports in July suff...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures advanced 29 points at 8:35 AM EDTIndex futures gained 15 points following release of the U.S. August Employment Report at 8:30 AM EDT. Non-farm Payrolls were expected to increase 170,000 versus a gain of 187,000 in July. Actual was an increase of 187,000 versus a revised gain of 157,000 in July. August Unemployment Rate was ex...Read More
(IDEX Online) - This is Beyonce wearing the diamond dress that reportedly cost $1m.There was widespread speculation - is it or isn't actually made of diamonds? - when she first wore it last month in Toronto, on her Renaissance World Tour.It is. The mesh dress is an Elsa Peretti Diamonds by the Yard design, featuring fine, fluid chains and bezel-set diamonds.Peretti, who died in 2021, was a de...Read More
Equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 13 points at 8:35 AM Equity index futures were unchanged following release of U.S. economic reports at 8:30 AM EDT. July Core PCE Price Index was expected to increase 0.2% versus a gain of 0.2% in June. Actual was a gain of 0.2%. On a year-over-year basis, July Core PCE Price Index was expected to increase 4.2% versus 4.1%...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today (30 August) announced rough sales of just $370m during cycle 7, the lowest figure since the Covid pandemic.Sales slumped to $355m in March 2020, the last cycle before lockdowns forced De Beers to suspend its Gaborone sights. When they resumed in September sales were $334m.Today's announcement suggests there's no end in sight to the caution that has long dom...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's commerce minister has reiterated the government's support for lab grown diamond production and insisted they are "equivalent to natural diamonds".Piyush Goyal was speaking in Jaipur last week, ahead of two days of G20 trade and investment meetings.He said lab growns would be treated exactly like mined diamonds in free trade agreement talks with other countries."I...Read More
(IDEX Online) - More than $1.3bn of luxury watches were reported as stolen or lost in 2022, according to The Watch Register, as thefts surge by 60 per cent.The London-based company holds a database of almost 80,000 missing timepieces. It says almost half (44 per cent) are Rolex. Daytona, GMT and Oyster Perpetual models are the most-stolen because demand exceeds supply and secondary mark...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Titan Company has bought almost all remaining shares in the Indian e-tailer CaratLane in a move that values the company at just over $2bn.It is being hailed as the country's biggest D2C (direct-to-consumer) deal in e-commerce.It values the company at Rs 17,000 crore ($2.05bn) according to The Economic Times.CaratLane, which manufactures and sells jewelry was co-founded in 2008...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A passenger arriving in Mumbai on a flight from Dubai was caught trying to smuggle $180,000 of diamonds inside a packet of tea.The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department said 34 diamonds, with a total weight of 1,559.68 carats, were concealed in eight pouches.The suspect, a 30-year-old Indian resident, was arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport,...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 5 points at 8:35 AM EDT. S&P 500 Index futures added 4 points following release of revised U.S. second quarter annualized GDP at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 2.4%. Actual was an increase of 2.1%HP Inc dropped $1.88 to $29.49 after reporting lower than consensus third quarter earnings. The company also...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Speculation is mounting that the G7 nations will finally announce sanctions on Russian diamonds in September, 19 months after the invasion of Ukraine.They could be implemented, backed by a traceability solution, next January, after the all-important holiday season, according to a New York Times report.Brad Brooks-Rubin, senior adviser in the Office of Sanctions Coordination i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fishers are mounting a legal challenge to marine diamond operations off South Africa's west coast.They claim rights to mine in shallow sea and along an 85km coastal strip of land were granted and subsequently renewed without proper consultation.Their court action, due to begin today (29 August) at Western Cape High Court, is being opposed by Trans Hex Operations, which has mar...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An advertising watchdog has told a US jewelry online retailer it must use appropriate terms to describe the origin of its diamonds.The Natural Diamond Council (NDC), which promotes mined diamonds, had challenged the way Agape Diamonds marketed its lab grown stones.Agape, based in Tampa, Florida, subsequently made modifications, but not to the full satisfaction of the NDC.The...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 8 points at 8:30 AM EDT. Big Lots jumped $1.04 to $7.32 after reporting a narrower than expected second quarter loss.JM Smucker advanced $3.65 to $146.54 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal first quarter earnings. Best Buy added $0.75 to $74.82 after reporting higher than consensus second quarter earnings. Ba...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sotheby's Hong Kong is to auction one of the world's largest and most valuable blue diamonds, with an estimate of $26m to $37m.The Infinite Blue, an 11.28-carat radiant-cut fancy vivid blue stone, will be offered for sale in a single-lot live auction on 5 October.The Type IIb gem is set with a halo of pink and white trapezoid diamonds. Sotheby's said in an Insta...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Inmates at an Indian jail are cutting and polishing diamonds behind bars.It's common for prisoners to work in laundries or kitchens, in sewing or agriculture. But those at Lajpore Central Jail, in Surat, are believed to be the only ones in the world working with diamonds.Just over 100 of the prison's 3,000 inmates work at the polishing unit, according to the Times of Indi...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 18 points at 8:30 AM EDT. Horizon Therapeutics added $5.38 to $112.05 after the Federal Trade Commission halted its challenge of Amgen to take over the company.MMM gained $5.05 to 104.00 on news that the company is nearing a settlement to pay $5.5 billion to resolve a claim on faulty earplugs sold to the U.S. military....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Police in Brazil have raided the addresses of two aides to the former president, over claims they sold high-value jewelry gifts from foreign governments for cash.Proceeds of the sales were, allegedly, then passed on to Jair Bolsonaro, who lost last October's election to left wing rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.A Federal Police said a lawyer and former aide were "suspect...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has stockpiled 300,000 carats of diamonds since new rules were introduced last October, requiring miners to pay half their government royalties in raw minerals.The move, designed to maintain the value of the country's assets by building up a national reserve of precious metals and stones, was introduced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictur...Read More