Market Comment

News:

Sentiment mixed ahead of holiday season. US retail solid. India factories reopen after Diwali but still suffer from tariff impact. Small diamonds weak, larger stones steady: Oct. 0.30 ct. RAPI -4.4%, 0.50 ct. -2.8%, 1 ct. -1.7%, 3 ct. +0.3%. Fancies doing better than rounds. De Beers allows 100% refusals at Nov. sight, keeps prices stable. Secondary market slow. Alrosa Jan.-Sep. revenue -6% YOY to $1.9B, profit +27% to $441M after sale of Angola assets. Brilliant Earth 3Q sales +10% YOY to $110M; loss narrows 37% to $672K. US makes progress on trade deals with important Asian jewelry-manufacturing countries.

Fancies:

Long fancy shapes such as Oval, Marquise and Emerald doing better than rounds in 2 ct. and larger. High-quality Marquises, long Radiants and long Cushions in short supply. Marquises most expensive fancy shapes. Long Cushions easy to sell and trading at 20% to 25% premium over square ones. Solid US market for elongated Ovals of good shape and quality in D-I, VS-SI categories. US Oval prices 5% to 10% higher than those of Pears. Very well-cut fancy shapes difficult to find and commanding premiums. Fancies with bad proportions illiquid.