Diamond News Archives

In an interview with IGTV, Stuart Brown, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Mountain Province Diamonds (MPD) said that "over the last five years we've probably seen too much supply of rough going into the market."

Brown came to MNPD after a long career in the diamond mining industry. He spent most of his career with De Beers. De Beers is responsible for the mining side of the joint venture.

In terms of market outlook, Brown said: "We see it as being more positive but we've got some challenges right now. New producers have come online. Existing producers have produced more and then there have been some shocks to the industry."

However, Brown stressed that demand has remained resilient. "We haven't seen a decline in the global spend in certain sectors, but we are having to fight harder for our share of that wallet." He added that synthetic diamonds are the 'new challenge to the industry'. However, his view is that there is a place for both products.

Watch the compete, ten-minute long interview here^[1]. ...

References

1. ^{^} here (www.ig.com)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank could take action including a possible rate cut at its policy meeting on Thursday, as central banks around the globe rev up stimulus to support the world economy through a period of heightened uncertainty from trade wars and Brexit.

The ECB, which sets interest rates for the 19 European Union member countries that use the euro, is expected by many analysts to at least tweak its promise to keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels into next year. The new wording would emphasize that the next move down the road could be a cut.

But a rate cut Thursday is not out of the question either — even though one of the rate benchmarks is already below zero.

That would see the ECB moving ahead of an expected rate reduction from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which has an outsized role due to the size of the U.S. economy and the dollar’s status as an international currency for borrowing and trade. Fed officials have signaled they may cut rates at their July 30-31 meeting, from the current benchmark federal funds rate of 2.25-2.5 percent. Central banks in South Korea, Indonesia and South Africa have already cut rates in recent days.

Analysts at bank Morgan Stanley predict the ECB will cut its deposit rate from minus 0.4% to minus 0.5% at the bank’s Sept. 12 meeting or before and “wouldn’t be surprised if this was to happen already” at Thursday’s meeting. The negative rate means banks pay to keep cash overnight at the ECB, a penalty aimed at pushing them to lend the money.

“The main question is whether the ECB can afford to wait six more weeks before delivering new monetary stimulus or whether it should surprise...

“Gentlemen… the National Debt… is paid.”

That sentence has been uttered in Washington DC exactly one time ever, by a Senator announcing that the US government was officially debt free.

That was on January 8, 1835 when the debt that the United States government had accrued since its birth was finally paid off.

Never again would the United States be debt free.

It took 174 years for the debt to rack up to a mind boggling $11 TRILLION in 2009.

And then it took only ten years to balloon ANOTHER $11 trillion.

Today the national debt is larger than the entire economy of the USA, $22 trillion.

It took 147 years to get a trillion dollars into debt. The USA now routinely adds at least $1 trillion in debt every 365 days.

And why exactly are we adding all this debt? These are the good times!

The economy has been growing for a decade. The stock market is pumping up to all time highs. Almost every asset class is practically bursting with wealth. We’ve even seen record tax revenues.

And still, routine spending is a trillion dollars more than the government collects.

Any semblance of financial restraint is not even an afterthought on politicians’, or their constituents’, mind.

This is really insane.

Back in 2009, people were actually talking about how troubling the debt was… when it was half of what it is now.

A 2009 Forbes article^[1] is almost adorable as it predicts the US debt will be $14 trillion by 2019. Only about 50% off… and still, the author was extremely concerned. As he should have been.

As we all should be, even...

Silver futures traded 0.98 per cent higher to Rs 41,081 per kg Monday after speculators raised bets driven by a firm trend overseas.

Silver for delivery in September contracts rose by Rs 399, or 0.98 per cent, to Rs 41,081 per kg in a business turnover of 18,411 lots on the Multi Commodity Exchange.

Besides, the white metal to be delivered in far-month December contracts rose by Rs 378, or 0.91 per cent, to Rs 41,790 per kg in 1,109 lots.

Analysts said widening of positions by traders in sync with a firm trend overseas for precious metals mainly influenced silver prices here....