Diamond News Archives
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(IDEX Online) - The president of The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) today warned that smaller businesses may struggle to survive the coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement from his home in Milan, where he and his family are currently quarantined, Dr Gaetano Cavalieri calls for mutual help and co-operation within the jewelry industry at this time of crisis.
He writes: "Many of the technology-based solutions for managing a business remotely come with a cost that will be less easily carried by small and medium-sized enterprises.
"There should be an industry-wide sense of awareness that colleagues who are more vulnerable to the suspension of regular trading norms should be a provided a fair opportunity to catch up and compete.
"The stakes are extremely high. We deal in luxury products, but our chain of supply supports communities and sometimes entire countries in some of the world's most developmentally challenged areas.
"It is incumbent upon us to put our heads together and chart a way forward for the industry through the uncertainty that the COVID-19 coronavirus has created. It is during times like this that the communal spirit of our industry and the mettle of our members will be truly tried and tested."
He says northern Italy, the heart of the nation's jewelry industry is in virtual shutdown, as is China, its second largest market.
He also says: "International travel, which for many of us is the life blood of our business, has been curtailed or suspended, trade shows across the globe have been postponed or canceled, and factories, buying offices, wholesalers and retailers are in standby mode."...
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(IDEX Online) - Diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz has had his assets frozen in an ongoing compensation row with the Brazilian mining giant Vale, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
His mining company Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) is embroiled in a bitter and long-running compensation battle with Brazilian mining giant Vale over an ill-fated iron ore joint venture in the west African state of Guinea.
In the latest development Vale, one of the world's largest mining companies, has secured a court order against Mr Steinmetz, five executives who worked for BSGR, and two connected entities,
It requires them not to dispose of or reduce the value of assets worth $1.85bn, including a Benetti motor yacht and two Bombardier aircraft.
BSGR was ordered to pay a $1.25bn damages award after it was found liable by a UK court of fraudulent misrepresentation.
The company, which is now in administration, has appealed against the decision, made last April by the London Court of International Arbitration. The company and Mr Steinmetz, have always denied any wrongdoing.
The freezing order allows the 63-year-old Israeli tycoon to draw £25,000 a week living expenses....
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(IDEX Online) - Fears over coronavirus have forced the cancelation of this year's GIA's career fair.
Hundreds of job seekers had been due to attend the annual event in New York on 13 March.
Organizers of the GIA Jewelry Career Fair, which attracted over 400 students last year, hope to rearrange the event.
Spokseman Stephen Morisseau said: "Due to evolving concerns about the coronavirus, we cancelled the March 13 GIA Jewelry Career Fair in New York.
"We believe this is in the best interest of all participants' health and safety. We will look for a future date to reschedule the event."
JCK Las Vegas, the biggest jewelry show in North America, will go ahead as scheduled in June, unlike in the Hong Kong, where a number of high-profile shows have been postponed....
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A pedestrian walks past the Federal Reserve building on Constitution Avenue in Washington on March 19, 2019.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Traders now expect the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point this month, even after the reduction earlier this week.
Friday's stock market rout[1] and a fresh record low in government bond yields pushed traders to assign a 65% chance of a 75 basis point cut by the March 17-18 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, according to the CME's FedWatch tracker. There was zero probability assigned to that steep of a cut Thursday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly fell below 0.7% as part of a continuing fear trade sparked by uncertainty over the coronavirus.
If the market is correct, the cut in the federal funds rate would take the borrowing cost in short-term markets down to a range of 0.25%-0.5%. On Tuesday, the Fed announced a 50 basis point cut[2] that put the current target to 1%-1.25%.
"We knew the Fed at some point if we had a recession again would get the funds rate to zero, and that is effectively being priced in," said Mike Collins, senior portfolio manager at PGIM Fixed Income. "There's a very good chance they cut a couple times more, maybe get to 50, maybe get to zero at the end of this year and probably get stuck there."
In afternoon trading Friday, the market was pricing in a 0.53% funds rate, but that was drifting lower through the day.
The possibility of the Fed going to zero, where it went in December 2008 and stayed for seven years, rose through the...