(IDEX Online) - US jeweler Zales has launched a "fine jewelry rental" scheme for lab grown diamonds.Customers pay 10 per cent of the retail price to borrow items for weddings or special occasions.The Zales x Rocksbox program is being piloted in-store at 28 branches of Zales, and could be rolled out to other banners in the Signet family. It is a collaboration with Rocksbox, the jewelry rental...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Patek Philippe says it has created the most complicated watch in its 184-year history.The latest version of its Grandmaster Chime - a reversable watch with two faces and a patented swivel mechanism - has 20 complications and a $2.2m price tag.The white and rose gold timepiece has an ultra-complicated manually wound mechanical movement."Among the 20 complications are five acoustic f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's has acknowledged the Nazi link to a collection of jewelry that is expected to sell for a record $150m in Geneva this month.The 700-plus items belonged to Heidi Horten, whose first husband Helmut Horten founded the eponymous chain of German department stores.It has since been established that Jewish businessmen in the 1930s were forced to sell him their own departmen...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds announced a 13 per cent increase in Q1 rough sales from Letseng, in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world. It raised $36.7m.The London-listed miner said it achieved an average $1,431 per carat during the quarter to 31 March 2023, virtually unchanged from the previous quarter.The highest price paid was $282,889 per carat for a 6.63-c...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 11 points at 8:30 AM EDT.President Biden has called for a meeting on May 9th with Congressional leaders to discuss the Federal government debt limit. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen noted that the debt limit could be breached as early as June 1st.Blackberry gained $0.24 to US$4.22 after weighing plans to separate some...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The 11.16-carat pear-shaped Bulgari Laguna Blu - certified as the highest grade blue diamond ever by the GIA - could fetch $25m when it is auctioned at Sotheby's Geneva later this month.It is destined to become the most valuable gem ever to be sold by Bulgari. A European collector bought it from Bulgari in the 1970s and had it set in a ring. It has remained in their collection...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Caution persists and overall trading is slow, as reflected in heavy rounds losses and no more than a smattering of increases among fancies, which have fared better of late.India is braced for fewer bulk orders, US demand remains patchy and the predicted post-Covid bounce in China hasn't fully materialized.De Beers did however report $540m of rough sales during Cycle 3, a sligh...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 4 points at 8:30 AM EDT.Volume on North American exchanges is expected to be well below average today. Equity markets outside on North America are closed for a variety of national holidays. JP Morgan added $5.14 to $143.38 after announcing purchase of First Republic Bank's assets.Enbridge (ENB.TO Price: Cdn$53.87) is...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Four jobless diamond polishers in Surat have taken their own lives within 10 days, as a global drop in demand forces factory owners to lay off staff.Three men and a woman committed suicide due to financial stress, according to a report in The Blunt Times, a news portal covering Surat and south Gujarat.The Diamond Workers' Union Gujarat (DWUG) says workers are being laid off, w...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Swiss company claims it has developed technology that chemically profiles any diamond so it can identify the country - and even the specific mine - of origin.Spacecode says it analyzes diamonds at a molecular level to determine where it was mined, so it doesn't matter whether the stone has been registered earlier in the supply chain.The company has been in talks with the G7...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co has re-opened its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, New York, after a revamp costing an estimated $500m.The setting for the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany's movie (1961) has been christened The Landmark.A catalog of A-listers - among them Florence Pugh, Gal Gadot, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zo?? << Kravitz, Michael B. Jordan, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, Brooklyn and Nic...Read More
(Adds Trudeau quote on supply chain) By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium inChina to "slave labor" as he discussed his own country's effortsto ramp up production of the metal used in electric vehicle andother batteries. Canada has significant sources of lithium, Trudeau said, butChina has made s...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 13 points at 8:35 AM EDT. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of U.S. economic news at 8:30 AM EDT:March PCE Price Index ex food & energy was expected to increase 0.2% versus a gain of 0.3% in February. Actual was an increase of 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, March core PCE Price Index was e...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet CEO Virginia Drosos says the company's boycott of Russian diamonds will help its growth.In an interview with GJEPC's Solitaire magazine, she said they were following a consumer-driven desire, rather than a government-driven mandate and not selling Russian diamonds would help them grow faster."We've already been working with our partners to create a new w...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 23 points at 8:30 AM EDT. Meta Platform advanced $24.70 to $234.15 after reporting higher than consensus first quarter earnings. The company also offered positive guidance. eBay gained $1.61 to $44.97 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal second quarter revenues and earnings. KLA Tencor advanced $7.89 to $365.25...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto reported a small drop in first quarter diamond production at its Diavik mine in Northwest Territories, Canada. It recovered 954,000 carats, down four per cent from 991,000 carats in Q1 2022, and down 27 per cent on Q4 2022.Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation, said the lower production was because of temporary restrictions accessin...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 7 points at 8:35 AM EDT.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the March Durable Goods Orders report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.5% versus a decline of 1.0% in February. Actual was an increase of 3.2% thanks mainly to a surge in aircraft deliveries by Boeing.Microsoft gained $20....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Antwerp's Diamantkring has become the first bourse to partner with the Natural Diamond Council (NDC).The New York-based NDC (known as the Diamond Producers' Association until June 2020) promotes the industry and educates consumers.Its members include miners De Beers Group, Lucara Diamond, Petra Diamonds, RZM Murowa, and Rio Tinto - representing about three quarters of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has created a "modern tiara" using 40 carats of diamond from its own mines, with an 8.49-carat pear-shaped gem at the center.It's part the new Metamorphosis high jewelry collection, described as "the most creative and technically challenging collection to date".The four-stranded tiara is crafted from colored titanium and platinum and features a set of six additional f...Read More