By: Dave KranzlerLiterally, the wheels are coming off. Panasonic, which supplies batteries that it manufactures for Tesla at the Gigafactory in Nevada announced that it was cutting back on its plans to expand production capacity at the plant. It also announced that it was suspending plans to produce batteries at Tesla's planned Shanghai Gigafactory. In an article in a Japanese business publicat...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold trading into a market downtrend, oversold but $1,280 level in play...Read More
Gold and silver are still not out of the bear shadow. If they fall today, then they will crash. India is closed tomorrow. In India this is the biggest holiday week of the year. If Indian gold prices fall, then jewelers will have the best sale of the current year. A hopefully good jewelry sale will result higher Indian gold demand next week. Day traders need to remain on the sidelines today. Tr...Read More
India has accounted for much of the global demand for silver. Matt explains the significance...by Matt from Silver Fortune via Silver FortuneUnderstanding just how much silver demand India accounted for last year drives home the point of their importance to the silver market. Read More
RAPAPORT... The American Gem Society (AGS) has given Arkansas jeweler Kelly Newton its Robert M. Shipley award for his contributions to the industryand service to the organization. The third-generation owner and president of Newton'sJewelers has been a member of AGS for 25 years, and has served on its board ofdirectors since 2010. He has been a chair of the organization's membershipcommittee...Read More
RAPAPORT... New Art Cima will become the first Japanese retailer to usethe Sarine Diamond Journey software to sell jewelry to its customers. The platform presents a report of all the steps a diamondtakes from its rough origin to the polished product. It also comes with a three-dimensionalmodel of the original uncut stone that a customer can see and touch, Sarinesaid this week. "Each diamond...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamond production at Rio Tinto dropped 18% year on year inthe first quarter of 2019, as the miner recovered lower-grade ore at its twodeposits. Production came to 3.8 million carats for the three monthsending March 31, the company said Tuesday. The Argyle mine in Australia yielded2.8 million carats, a 22% decrease compared to the same period last year. Thedecline was due to the p...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling will not return toBaselworld in 2020, and will instead focus on marketing through its ownplatform.Although the watch and jewelry exhibition proved successfulfor the company this year, the fair's new schedule, which will begin next year,clashed with Breitling's. "The decisive factor is the timing of Baselworld at the endof April, which cannot be re...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.As Indonesia heads for the polls on 17 April, Wood Mackenzie's research director Andrew Harwood provides the following commentary:"We predict that President Jokowi will once again defeat his 2014 opponent, Prabowo Subianto, and secure...Read More
Petra Diamonds published a report for the first quarter of the year. The company produced 924,228 carats, compared to 992,315 carats in the first quarter of 2018, reflecting the increased production at the Cullinan, Koffiefontein and Williamson mines, but offset by a lower production at the Finsch mine. With the expansion of operations at the Cullinan mine, across the so-called C-Cut footprint, t...Read More
This year, National Jeweler honored two single-store independent jewelers along with one multi-store independent. The 2019 inductees are Cathy Calhoun of Calhoun Jewelers, Julia and David Gardner of David Gardner's Jewelers & Gemologists, and Judy and Steve Padis of Padis Jewelry. "We are thrilled to welcome five jewelers into the National Jeweler Retailer Hall of Fame this year. We thi...Read More
ImaGem Inc. launched Varna-D, a portable device for color grading polished diamonds. Weighing only half a pound and about the size of a weighing scale, Varna-D was designed and built with the members of the diamond trade in mind, as they require accessible and easy to handle tools for accurate and repeatable grading of loose diamonds. The company said its color grading technology was developed and...Read More
For the third time in a row, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and the University of Antwerp (UA) will organize the Antwerp Summer University. Spanning two weeks at the end of August - early September, the academic program, is intended for an international group of masters and PhD students, graduates, researchers and (young) professionals from in- and outside the diamond industry. The...Read More
Sarine Technologies Ltd announced that New Art Cima Ltd. is the first retail chain in Japan to implement the Sarine Diamond Journey solution as a center piece of its new customer experience. The Sarine Diamond Journey solution vividly showcases a diamond's transformation from its rough origin to its polished form. The solution includes a three-dimensional model of the original rough stone th...Read More
Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) will be hosting diamond viewings for its registered customers at the AWDC Tender Facility from the July 1-5, 2019. At the viewing, the goods on-site will be single stones and sales lots comprising stones greater than +9.8 carats. These goods then will be sold as part of ODC's July online auction that is planned for July 25, 2019. Meanwhile, registration for the...Read More
Holding pattern for now Base metals seem to be in something of a holding pattern, waiting for more details from US-China trade talks before making their next directional move. Given the likelihood of a positive conclusion, stronger demand-related signals from China, and tight underlying supply-demand balances, we maintain that the mostly likely next move will be to the upside. Aluminium: Becoming...Read More
Aluminium prices slipped back below $1,850 per tonne last week Aluminium prices continued their downtrend and slipped below the $1,850 per tonne mark last week. This comes as weaker investor sentiment across Europe continues to trickle through to commodity purchasing, with US President Donald Trump threatening to apply $11 billion worth of tariffs on goods from the EU. Grounded in an ongoing aircr...Read More
Aluminium LME aluminium produced what appears to be a bullish daily hammer candlestick on Friday April 12. This technical development could mark a potential short-term reversal. Given how oversold the daily RSI and stochastic lines are, there is decent upside potential on both indicators to support a move higher. Still, we will need to see more buying emerge first and LME aluminium needs to t...Read More
The copper industry gathered in Santiago last week for the annual CESCO week. Overall, sentiment was fairly bullish and that seems to be flowing into prices this week, with copper having another go at resistance in the $6,500s. Below we highlight some of the key takeaways from CESCO and give our opinion on some of the main talking points. Mine disruptions are back After a relative dearth of mine s...Read More
Rising stocks highlight adequate availability A pick-up in both LME and SHFE lead stocks in recent months is a headwind for lead prices at this seasonally weak time when the threat of severe cold weather in the northern hemisphere has passed. That said, exchange lead stocks are still relatively low, at around 109,500 tonnes on Friday, compared with 123,276 tonnes at the start of the year. While th...Read More