Morning Bites (part 2)

💍China’s jewellery and watch retail sales slid 9% YoY in December, after four months of consecutive gains. Meanwhile, the sales were roughly in line with their pre-Covid levels (+1% vs. Dec-19). Although local trading showed rather soft dynamics toward the end of 2023, this might have been at least partially driven by a later start of the Lunar New Year holiday (10 February in 2024 vs. 22 January in 2023). At the same time, sentiment in the major US downstream market (~53% of global gem-set jewellery trade), remained broadly stable in December, according to Rapaport

We maintain our view that further improvement of consumer sentiment in the (key) US and Chinese markets, which jointly represent ~65% of the world's polished demand, would be of paramount importance for supporting the stressed diamond market

#diamonds
https://metals-wire.com/sector/Diamonds