(IDEX Online) – The global diamond industry emerged stronger in 2017 with 2 percent growth across all segments of the value chain, following a period of high volatility, according to the Bain & Company report on the industry's performance in 2017 and the first half of this year. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>
In line with positive luxury market trends, global diamond jewelry sales grew last year, fueled by strong macroeconomic fundamentals in the U.S., resurging demand from Chinese millennials, and increasing sales in the self-purchasing category in China. This healthy demand led to an unprecedented jump of nearly 20 percent in diamond production volume last year and supported a 2 percent increase in cutting and polishing revenue, putting the segment on positive ground, according to the eighth annual report on the global diamond industry by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and Bain & Company.
“The diamond industry closely mirrors the luxury industry in its resilience to socio-economic turmoil around the world,” said Olya Linde, partner at Bain & Company and lead author of the report. “In 2017, we saw notable growth across all segments of the diamond industry value chain even in the face of increased market turbulence, continuing a climb that started in 2016. This is a trend we expect will continue through 2030, despite several challenges that will reshape the way the industry markets itself amid changing consumer preferences and the increasing influence of lab-grown diamonds.”
The report said:
The increase in retail diamond jewelry sales – up 2 percent in US dollar terms – can be attributed to a strong economy and favorable macroeconomics, namely growing consumer...
Gold rose overnight in a range of $1237.30 - $1243.15, where resistance at $1242 – 44 (triple top 10/26, 12/4, and 12/6 highs) held.
Gold was able to climb despite the US dollar remaining fairly steady (DX between 96.77 – 96.93), and with mixed global equities. The NIKKEI was up 0.8%, the SCI was flat, Eurozone shares were up from 0.5% to 1.4%, and S&P futures were off 0.5%.
At 8:30 AM, the much-awaited US Payroll Report was weaker than expected. Nonfarm Payrolls were much lower than anticipated (155k vs. exp. 198k) and Average Hourly Earnings were lighter (0.2% vs. exp. 0.3%).
S&P futures rose (2698) with equity investors hoping the Fed will be less aggressive in hiking rates. The US 10-year bond yield declined to 2.89% and the DX tumbled to 96.53. Gold – which had previously pulled back to $1240 - pushed higher and took out resistance at $1242-44 briefly to trade $1245. However, profit taking sent it back to $1243.
US stocks opened stronger (S&P +13 to 2709), boosted by some optimistic comments on trade from Larry Kudlow, a better than expected University of Michigan Sentiment Report (97.5 vs. exp. 97), and an OPEC production cut (1.2M bpd) that lifted oil to $54.15. The 10-year yield edged back over 2.90% to 2.906% while the DX rebounded to 96.80. Gold remained resilient, however, trading between $1242.50 - $1244.
Later in the morning, US stocks turned down (S&P -28 to 2667) as tech shares rolled over. Some pessimistic comments on US-China trade from Peter Navarro contradicting the early more conciliatory remarks from Kudlow weighed.
The 10-year yield ticked down to 2.89%, and the DX pulled back to 96.69. Gold probed higher and took out the double top at $1245-46 (7/16 and...
A few double negatives buried in legislative text may have inadvertently freed nearly all U.S. banks from a regulation known as the Volcker Rule[1], which sought to curb risky behavior in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
The text in question comes from a package bill passed in May that pared back portions[2] of the Dodd-Frank post-crisis financial regulatory framework. One of the many provisions of the bill offered an exemption from the Volcker Rule to smaller community banks that policymakers felt were burdened by the regulation, which limited banks’ proprietary trading, or trading for their own accounts.
But sources tell Yahoo Finance that some of the largest U.S. banks are now thinking about challenging the interpretation of that May legislation in court, arguing that the bill could be read as also extending regulatory relief to banks far above $10 billion in assets.
If they succeed, this alternative interpretation could free nearly all U.S. banks from a heavily scrutinized post-crisis regulation that some see as an important safeguard against excessive risk-taking but one that opponents criticize as poorly designed and unduly burdensome.
In the spring of 2018, a number of moderate Senate Democrats teamed up with Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and the Republican majority to pass a package bill paring back portions of Dodd-Frank, arguing that some of the rules placed an undue burden on smaller financial institutions.
One of those provisions exempted smaller banks from the Volcker Rule. A summary of the bill promises “community bank relief” to banking entities that have “(1) less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets, and (2) total trading assets and trading liabilities that are not more than five percent of...
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Household Wealth Hits A Record $109 Trillion... There Is Just One Catch | Zero Hedge Skip to main content [1]