Growth in US Watch and Jewelry Sales Down to Covid Levels

(IDEX Online) - The growth in sales of US jewelry and watches in September hit its lowest level since the Covid lockdowns of 2020. It was down to just 1.3 per cent. The figure for August, originally given as 3.7 per cent, has now been revised down, based on actual rather than estimated sales to 3.0 per cent. This paints a grim picture. The last time sales growth reached a low point like this was as we emerged from the initial Covid lockdowns. It was 1.1 per cent in June 2020, on its way up after hitting a record -55.9 per cent in April of that year. That was part of a diamond industry recovery, but September's figure appears to be part of a long, slow decline. And given the tendency of the Department of Commerce to revise down figures, it's entirely possible that in a month's time it will be even closer to zero.

Last month the BEA (US Bureau of Economic Analysis) made a whole raft of revisions for sales dating back as far as 2017, most of them downwards.  This month there have been only marginal reductions to the July and August figures.

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