Diamond News Archives

Organizations behind lab-grown diamonds continue to push to conquer the market.

As miners of the precious stones are struggling across the board, particularly those unearthing cheaper and smaller gems where there is too much supply, companies producing synthetic diamonds are expanding their reach by incorporating consumer feedback into their manufacturing and commercialization processes.

According to Chris Casey, president of the New York-based Lab Grown Diamond Council or LGDC, compliance with labour and environmental standards are consumers’ top concerns when purchasing any kind of gemstones and other products. This is why his organization decided to commission third-party SCS Global Services to create a sustainability standard for the industry, which should be ready in about six months.

“Today’s younger consumers want insight into the sourcing of virtually every product they purchase. When it comes to lab-grown diamonds, they are asking retail sales associates whether they are ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘sustainable’,” Casey told MINING.com. “The challenge is that these terms are currently unsubstantiated.”

The executive explained that those terms are not necessarily correct when referring to any product in his field, which is said to be more carbon-intensive than the diamond mining industry. In his view, the lack of clear guidelines is one of the things that have prompted the misuse of such descriptors and, therefore, the misleading of consumers.

To avoid deceitful advertising, the US Federal Trade Commission asked the industry to remove the words ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘sustainable’ when marketing lab-grown stones and, in response to the warning, the LGDC saw the urgency of commissioning the guidelines.

“The development of...

Gold softened last night, paring some of yesterday’s rebound in a narrow range of $1281 - $1285.30.  It rose to its $1285.30 top during Asian and early European time, fading a dip in the US dollar (DX from 97.91 – 97.68).  The DX was pressured by gains in the yen (109.74 – 109.45), pound ($1.2660 - $1.2717, relief rally after PM May announces she will resign on 6/7, upbeat UK Retail Sales), and the euro ($1.1176 - $1.1205).  Gold softened to its $1281 low later during European hours as the DX rebounded (97.84) and against a bounce in the US 10-year bond yield (2.313% to 2.333%) and mostly firmer global equities.  The NIKKEI was off 0.2% and the SCI was flat, but European markets advanced 0.7% -0.8%, and S&P futures were +0.6%.  Stocks were lifted by comments last night from Trump that he expected the US-China trade war to end swiftly, and that a trade deal could include the US lifting restrictions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei, along with remarks early this morning from the Chinese Ambassador Tianki that China was ready for further trade talks.  After three sessions of heavy losses ($63.76 - $57.33), oil prices bounced (WTI to $58.74) and were also supportive of stocks.   

 At 8:30 AM, a miss on US Durable Goods (-2.1% vs. exp. -2.0%, with large downward revision to last month’s increase) knocked S&P futures lower (+12 to 2831), and took the US 10-year bond yield down to 2.311%.  The DX slipped back to 97.70, and gold bounced to $1284.25.  

 US stocks rallied on their open (S&P +20 to 2841) with gains in the Financials, Utilities and Real Estate sectors leading the advance.  An upbeat forecast on Amazon by Piper Jaffray and a further increase in oil (WTI...

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References

1. ^{^} Skip to main content (www.zerohedge.com)

As the markets sold off on Thursday, gold, and silver were few of the only assets that remained in the green for the entire day.  Thus, the notion that the precious metals will crash with the markets continues to be proven wrong.  And what an ugly day it was as the Dow Jones fell 450 points at its low, while the Dollar, oil, and shale stocks were clobbered.

Of course, there was a late day rally that pushed the markets off their lows as the Dow Jones Index only closed down by 286 points.  However, the real loser yesterday was oil and oil stocks, especially the shale oil stocks.  As I mentioned in a previous article, THE BLOODBATH IN U.S. SHALE STOCKS CONTINUES: Worst Is Yet To Come^[1], the shale stocks were severely underperforming the major oil companies since the peak in the oil market in October.

Unfortunately, the situation in the shale stocks went from BAD to WORSE.  As the oil price fell 8% over the past two days, with the majority of the decline on Thursday, several shale stocks were decimated.  The following chart shows the price performance between three major oil companies and three shale stocks:

As the oil price fell $1.50 on Wednesday and another $3.5 on Thursday, it impacted the shale stocks more negatively than the major oil companies. While BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil’s share prices fell 2-3%, the shale stocks plummeted 9-16%.  Continental Resources stock fell 9.5% over the two days, but the real losers were Oasis, down 13% and Whiting, dropping a stunning 16%.

It seems that the shale stocks that focus in the Bakken are much weaker than those in the Permian, like Pioneer and Concho.  However, I believe the...