U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged at 8:30 AM EDT. Meta Platform added $2.74 to $293.50 on news that subscriptions to its new product, Threads are nearing 100 million.Fisker dropped $0.35 to $5.65 after announcing plans to issue convertible notes valued at $340 million.Northern Trust slipped $0.67 to 473.65 after UBS downgraded the stock from Buy...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet ranks 56th in a new list of top US retailers compiled by the NRF (National Retail Federation) with worldwide sales of $8.32bn in 2022.It jumps from 66th place last year, following its acquisition during 2022 of the online retailer Blue Nile for $360m and Diamonds Direct, the chain of 22 specialty jewelry stores, for $490m.In 2021 Signet also bought the jewelry-rental s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Newfield Resources has secured $50m in provisional finance to bring its Tongo Diamond Mine, in Sierra Leone, to commercial production.The Australian miner says the deposit has an initial eight-year life with peak annual diamond production of 260,000 carats forecast in Year 5.Newfield said yesterday (10 July) that its subsidiary Sierra Diamonds Limited (SDL) had signed a condi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Israel's trade in rough diamonds has halved during the first half of this year, according to new government figures.Net imports were down 45 per cent compared with H1 2022 to $555m and net exports fell 54 per cent to $444m.Trade in polished goods has also been hit by the global slowdown, but not as badly.Net imports were $1.38bn in the first half of 2023, down 22 per cent year...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The world's most expensive iPhone - incorporating a Graff diamond snowflake pendant - is on the market, for $450,000.Russian company Caviar International has made three iPhone 14 Pro Max cases of platinum and 18K white gold inlaid with a total of 570 round and marquise-cut diamonds.The Diamond Snowflake is a collaboration with British jeweler Graff and is also fits the new iPh...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An honest diamond broker returned eight paper packets of polished stones he found on a road in Surat.Mukesh Rabadiya was heading home from Mini Bazaar, Varaccha, Surat, when he spotted the packets, inside a plastic box, containing 20 carats, valued at $8,500.He put the diamonds in his locker at a private safe deposit vault, according to Times of India, and a fellow broker managed t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Chow Tai Fook (CTF) today reported an increase of almost 30 per cent in its first quarter retail sales value (RSV), following the end of China's zero-tolerance Covid lockdowns.The recovery was much more pronounced in Hong Kong, Macau and other markets, which account for just over 13 per cent of the company's trade, than it was across the mainland.The RSV increase in mainl...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 9 points at 8:35 AM EDT. Index futures moved lower following release for June Non-farm Payrolls at 8:30 AM EDT Consensus was an increase of 230,000 versus a gain of downwardly revised 306,000 in April. Actual was an increase of 209,000. June Unemployment Rate was expected to remain unchanged at 3.7% reported in May. A...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A bright orange sapphire has been recovered from a ruby mine in Greenland, in what's been described a one-in-a-million discovery.Sapphire is most commonly found as a blue gemstone, although trace elements can result in a wide variety of colors.The Aappaluttoq ruby deposit, operated by Greenland Ruby, has previously unearthed pink to orangy pink sapphires, but to find a bright...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A one-off Tiffany "Bird on A Rock" pendant watch is to feature in the Only Watch charity auction to raise funds for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.The watch case features a faceted aquamarine crystal of over 34 carats, and a dial set with 461 snow-set diamonds of over 1 total carat. It has an estimate of $390,000 to $556,000 (CHF 350,000 - 500,000).The bird is fashioned from plat...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The new Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) is facing criticism for offering incentives to new members if they close their offices at the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), in Mumbai.The new trading hub, built at a cost of $355m, is finally due to open this November after almost four years of delays.But is has provoked anger by urging SDB traders who also operate from BDB to close their office th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa has recovered a 180.87-carat Type IIa white diamond at its Lulo alluvial mine, in Angola.It's the second +100 carat diamond of the year so far. In February it found a 150-carat Type IIa D-color white diamond.And it's the 37th +100 carat since since the Australian miner began commercial production at Lulo in 2015.Last November the 170.2-carat Lulo Rose, believed to...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 36 points at 8:35 AM EDT.S&P 500 futures dropped 8 points following release of the May U.S. Trade Report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a deficit of $69.80 billion versus a deficit of $74.60 billion in April. Actual was a deficit of $69.00 billion.June ISM Non-manufacturing ISM PMI is released at 10:00 AM EDT. Cons...Read More
(IDEX Online) - New technology will calculate the carbon footprint of each individual natural diamond, from mine to polisher, and certify that figure on a blockchain.CarbonVero will provide an exact measure of the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption of any stone over 0.25 carats that can be passed to the end consumer.The groundbreaking new system is a collaboration between diamond tech...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Vladimir Malakhov, editor-in-chief of the Rough & Polished website, has died aged 76 after battling cancer.He soldiered on to until the end, posting diamond news stories on a platform that appeared in Russian, English, Chinese and Portuguese.The website went offline shortly after his death, on 17 June."I had a special relationship with Vladimir, and he was one of my close confi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - As many as one in 10 luxury watches are fakes, says Arjen van de Vall, CEO of Watchfinder, the UK's largest seller of second-hand timepieces.He says it's getting harder and harder, even for his experts, to tell the difference."We have a check list when our watchmakers see a watch. In the old days, around 20 per cent of watches would require further inspection to und...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The government of Namibia could seek an increased share in its sales agreement with De Beers, after the mining giant agreed a phased move to a 50/50 split with Botswana.Namdia, the state-owned diamond company currently receives 15 per cent of the diamonds produced by Namdeb, the 50/50 joint venture between the government and De Beers.The 10-year agreement expires in May 2026. Namib...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 23 points at 8:30 AM EDTUnited Parcel Services dropped $2.64 to $181.13 after labour negotiations met an impasse.Netflix added $3.08 to $444.52 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral.Rivian added $1.28 to $20.84 after announcing a triple increase in second quarter production. EquityClock's D...Read More
(Updates prices as of 1629 GMT) By Pratima Desai LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Copper prices retreated onTuesday as weak manufacturing data indicated poor demandprospects, including from top consumer China, though fallinginventories suggested a tighter market.Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME)traded 0.5% down at $8,356.5 a metric ton by 1629 GMT. Prices ofthe industrial metal hit a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - US watch and jewelry sales picked up a little during May. They were still down year-on-year - but showed some improvement on April, which was in turn better than March, which suffered the biggest fall since the pandemic.Sales during May were down 4.8 per cent on the same month last year, compared with a year-on-year drop of 7.2 per cent in April (revised from last month's 7.1...Read More