(IDEX Online) - A well-known jeweler in Sydney, Australia, has been charged with orchestrating a raid on his own store as part of an insurance fraud worth AUD$2.8m (US$1.9m).Michel Germani, 65, CEO and founder of Germani Jewellery, and a 47-year-old female staff member were allegedly threatened with a knife by two robbers who forced them to open the safe, and bound their hands and feet with...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's says it will donate a "significant portion" of the commission from its sale of Heidi Horten's jewelry towards Holocaust research and education.It says the proceeds from the auction itself - estimated at $150m - will go to a foundation that furthers the philanthropic causes including medical research, children's welfare, and access to the arts, in line with...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 15 points at 8:35 AM EDT.U.S. equity index futures moved higher following release of the U.S. April Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.4% versus a gain of 0.1% in March. Actual was an increase of 0.4%. On a year-over-year basis, consensus was an increase 5.0% versus a gain of 5.0% in Mar...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Zvi Yehuda, the diamond pioneer who invented the Sherlock Holmes machine and who was behind a string of industry innovations, has died at the age of 86.He was just 16 when he realized he could recycle diamond dust from bruting and sell it back to diamond cutters for grinding. He sold the idea to Israel's Industry Ministry and soon became the country's leading supplie...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA has graded its biggest ever lab grown polished diamond, a 34.59-carat emerald-cut stone (G color, VS2 clarity).The diamond, produced by Ethereal Green Diamond, in India, is more than twice the size of the previous record holder, a 16.41-carat princess-cut diamond from Shanghai Zhengshi Technology, in China, in January 2022.The 34.59-carat stone, measuring 24.94mm ??- 13.95mm ??...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 13 points at 8:30 AM EDT. PayPal dropped $4.35 to $71.17 after reporting a lower than consensus first quarter profit margin.Lucid fell $0.67 to $7.04 after lowering production guidance. Wayfair fell $2.75 to $37.22 after announcing a convertible bond offering.New York Times gained $0.75 to $40.65 after announcing a $1...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A man has been arrested in Surat, accused of defrauding a diamond trader by swapping polished stones worth almost $40,000 with packets of chewing tobacco.Raheel Manjani, a diamond broker, allegedly obtained the diamonds to sell to another trader, promising to make full payment for the sealed parcels within a few days, according to the Times of India.He didn't pay, says a compl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Malabar Gold and Diamonds has opened what it claims is the world's largest jewelry showroom, at 110,000sq ft.The "artistry store" in Cochin, Kerala, is on the site where the group was founded in 1993. It now boasts over 300 stores and 17,500 staff.Its claim to be the largest store in the world may, however, be disputed.Tiffany & Co's flagship Fifth Avenue 10-floor sto...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A diamond and pearl necklace and earrings owned by the late Princess Diana is to be auctioned next month.The Swan Lake Suite - named after a London ballet performance she attended while wearing them in June 1997 - is expected to sell for up to $15m.The suite was commissioned by the Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, the princess's new boyfriend, as a gift. She wore the necklac...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Six "unauthorized diggers" died in a diamond mine collapse in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).Few details have emerged about the accident last Friday in Diboko, in the central Kasai province, where mining accidents involving illegal workers are not uncommon.Those who died had "entered an area where mining is forbidden", the province's vice-governor Gaston Nkole said, ac...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P500 futures were up 10 points at 8:30 AM EDT.Scotts Miracle Grow added $2.45 to $68.89 after JP Morgan upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight.Tyson Foods dropped $4.40 to $56.29 after reporting an adjusted loss in its fiscal second quarter.Alcoa advanced $0.89 to $36.99 after JP Morgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating.Sn...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's is facing a call from the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) to donate over half of the proceeds from its auction of Heidi Horten's estate to Holocaust charities.Horten's first husband, Helmut Horten, built his department store empire from Jews who were forced to sell their businesses for ridiculous prices in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. They would b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dua Lipa dazzled at the Met Gala wearing an updated version of Tiffany's Lucida Star Necklace, minus the iconic yellow Tiffany Diamond.It's been replaced by 100-carat D-color 82-facet cushion-cut stone, known as the Legendary Diamond.The original 128.54-carat center stone, as worn by Audrey Hepburn and Lady Gaga, is said to be worth $30m.But it became the source of someth...Read More
(IDEX Online) - US watch and jewelry sales slumped during March, with the biggest monthly fall since the pandemic struck in 2020.They were down 9.2 per cent according to figures release by the US Department of Commerce. In February the fall was 6.8 per cent (revised down from the 3.0 per cent figure).Sales have been declining for the last six months, with the exception of January (revised up to 0....Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 118.35-carat royal blue sapphire is to be sold later this by month by Phillips Hong Kong with a high estimate of $4.5m.It was set into a necklace by Bulgari in 2004 as party of its High Jewelry Collection and appears at auction for the first time.The Sri Lankan unheated, cushion-shaped sapphire scored what Phillips describes as an "impossible" 98 points in the Gubelin Gemstone Ra...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Polished diamond prices, which had been showing some small signs of recovery since November 2022, suffered a setback in April, slipping by 2.1 per cent. Monthly declines had been progressively smaller - from 2.4 per cent to 0.4 per cent in March.But April saw a drop of 2.1 per cent, as uncertainty persists globally, the US feels jittery over bank collapses and China's post-Cov...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of the last diamonds recovered from the iconic Argyle mine - a 1.36-carat fancy deep pink stone - features in a ring designed for Rio Tinto, with a $1.33m price tag.The center stone is one of just 12 radiant-cut diamonds over 1.0-ct with a super-high 1P color grading, in the last 30 years of production at the mine, in East Kimberley, Western Australia, which closed in November...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 11 points at 8:35 AM EDT.Index futures were unchanged after release of the March U.S. Trade Deficit report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a recover to $63.80 billion from $70.05 billion in February. Actual was a deficit of $64.2 billion.First Horizon National dropped $6.21 to $8.90 after Toronto Dominion Bank withdrew...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet, the US's biggest jewelry chain with 2,800 outlets, says an "engagement gap" is to blame for falling ring sales.The Covid pandemic was a passion killer. Relationships that may otherwise have led to 2023 weddings faltered, or never happened in the first place, as lockdowns forced people to stay at home.The average time from the first date to marriage is just over three y...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points at 8:30 AM EDT.Focus today is on news on the Fed Fund Rate announced by the FOMC at 2:00 PM EDT.Responses to quarterly results after the close yesterday were surprisingly negative despite quarterly revenue and earnings reports that were better than consensus. Starbucks dropped $4.31 to $110.15. Advanced Micro...Read More