Diamond News Archives

While flattening-yield-curve talk is everywhere, there doesn’t seem to be any real sense of alarm about it.

It’s symptomatic of the times. There is a level of exhaustion in financial news markets; when everything risk just keeps going up, no matter what, after a while it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that reality just doesn’t matter anymore.

That despite the clear problems that exist, the structural fault lines that continue to show clear signs of coming apart, the stock market is just going to continue to melt up forever.

It won’t. This was exactly how the market behaved as the doctom bubble peaked. It’s impossible to call the exact top. It is absolutely possible to call the reaction that will take place afterward: “It was all so obvious. Why didn’t we see it?”

It seems everyone is talking about the yield curve right now. It also seems most economists and investors are quick to dismiss what would typically signal a clear economic warning as nothing worth worrying about. But from where I sit it looks like this could be a red flag worth paying close attention to.

The reason is that the yield curve, or the spread between the yield on the 10-year treasury and the 2-year treasury, appears to lead corporate spreads by about 30 months. In the chart below you’ll notice the close relationship which suggests rising risk aversion among corporate bond investors lags a flattening of the yield curve fairly consistently.

This could simply be due to the fact that a flattening curve is typically the product of rising short-term interest rates which put pressure on corporate balance sheets. Investors possibly respond to this pressure with a lag only after it becomes readily apparent in...

As the US government continues to ignore gold in favor of debt sprees and geopolitical sparring matches, China continues its definitive progress toward becoming a super power in the gold market.

China has its own significant debt problems to deal with, but their actions make it clear they see the long-term importance of gold, the world’s singular best store of indestructible value. Shoring up their gold trading operations while adding to their sovereign stockpile continues to prepare China to benefit greatly from gold’s return to prominence as currency, while the US simply continues to dilute its currency into oblivion.

Led by China, the global gold market has moved from the West to the East, the CEO of the World Gold Council, Aram Shishmanian, told an industry forum on April 19.

And building on that position, China is assuming leadership in the world of gold, he said at the Global Gold Market Summit 2018 in Xiamen, East China’s Fujian province. “Your leadership, I have no doubt, will determine or help determine the structure and form of the evolving international gold market.”

The summit, the third of its kind, was organized by the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and the Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and gathered about 700 industry heavyweights and professionals from across the world.

Shishmanian noted that China was small in the gold industry 20 years ago but has gone through “spectacular transformation” — the result of a “very careful and deliberate strategy” supported by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank.

At its heart, he said, is the formation of the SGE, combined with a series of liberalization policies and steps that created the conditions necessary for what we see today. Unlike any other country in the world, the...

(IDEX Online) – Organizers of the first Bharat Diamond Week at the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in Mumbai, India, said the show exceeded expectations. The Bharat exchange is already planning the next edition of the fair which it says will be even bigger and feature new elements.

The first-ever Bharat Diamond Week was opened by US Consul General Edgard D. Kagan in the presence of BDB President Anoop Mehta, GJEPC Chairman Pramod Agarwal, MDMA President Mahendra Gandhi, Diamond Dealers Club of New York President Reuven Kaufman, and Rosy Blue (India) Managing Director Russell Mehta. The Belgian Consul General in Mumbai, Peter Huyghebaert, also visited the fair.

"This first Bharat Diamond Week more than lived up to our expectations," said BDB Vice-President Mr Mehul Shah, who heads the Diamond Week project. "We understood early on that there was going to be great interest, and that turned out to be the case with more than 1,000 visitors from India and across the world are taking part. We are planning for the next show to take place from October 8-9.

“Our aim is to help the smaller and medium-size firms by giving them a platform on which to show their goods to buyers from India and overseas. Many companies in the bourse who were not able to exhibit in the show marquee reported that buyers also moved around the exchange, visiting offices and doing business. I must thank all members of the organising committee, particularly Jay Parikh, and, of course, all the exhibitors and buyers who made a great effort to attend.”

BDB President Mr Anoop Mehta said: "The Diamond Week really energised the whole Bharat Diamond Bourse. It created a lot...

On April 24, ALROSA, the world leader in diamond mining, and Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) signed a new extended cooperation agreement in Moscow. The agreement continues positive cooperation experience between the parties and expands bilateral interaction in line with new challenges of the market.

ALROSA CEO Sergey Ivanov and AWDС CEO Ari Epstein signed the new agreement. The official ceremony was held in the presence of Bart de Wever, Mayor of Antwerp, and Jean-Arthur Regibeau, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Russia.

The aim of the three-year agreement is to improve the scope and efficiency of ties between ALROSA and AWDC. Among other things, it assumes that the companies will keep exchanging information on the diamond market.

The parties also agreed on joint promotion of marketing initiatives, including generic marketing to maintain the value of diamonds as a category and stimulate consumer demand. AWDC will support the efforts of ALROSA that are done together with other members of the Diamond Producers Association (DPA). ALROSA and AWDC will likewise support each other in promoting their own initiatives.

ALROSA and AWDC will pay great attention to the problem of illegal penetration of synthetic stones into the trade of rough and polished diamonds.The parties agreed to jointly promote and protect the procedure of differentiation in rough diamonds and synthetic stones, including support of industry initiatives. AWDC will also allow for comprehensive check-ups and support the promotion of detection devices for synthetic stones, including Diamond Inspector, the technology developed by ALROSA.

The parties will also continue close collaboration within the World Diamond Council (WDC) to complete the reform of the WDC's System of Warranties, and supporting the WDC as an industry representative in the Kimberley Process.

"Belgium is the world's largest diamond trading center and...