RAPAPORT... US jewelry sales rose in March amid a broader reopening of the economy, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.Revenue for the category climbed 12% year on year during the month, Mastercard reported Wednesday. The segment also benefited from consumers refreshing their wardrobe ahead of honeymoon trips and other travel adventures. Jewelry purchases jumped 79% compared to the same period...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) finally broke its silence on Alrosa's membership. The organization was forced to respond after such prominent members including Richemont, Kering, Pandora and Watches of Switzerland withdrew from the organization in protest of the Russian company's continued involvement. Executive director Iris Van der Veken quit her job over the issue.Alros...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The CEO of Meylor Global, the Ukraine-based factory that produces the world's largest lab grown diamonds, has told how her staff have fled for their lives, or taken up arms against the Russian invaders.Yuliya Kusher (pictured) described the men who had been making diamonds until a few weeks ago, and who are now defending their country, as "jewels".The factory in Kyiv re-opened...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The most expensive piece of jewelry in the history of Tiffany & Co, a diamond necklace valued at up to $30m, made its debut appearance when Beyonce wore it for an Oscars after-party.It's a a modern take on the jeweler's iconic 1939 World's Fair Necklace, and it features a total of 578 diamonds, with a total weight of 180 carats set in platinum.At is center is an...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  Total sales of US watches and jewelry were over $115bn in 2021, the highest figure, by far, for at least a decade. It's an increase of just over 50 per cent on 2020, according to the Department of Commerce.  Suppliers and retailers tell us stay-at-home consumers went on a spending spree last year. Travel restrictions halted their vacation plans so the...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points at 7:30 AM EDT.The Canadian federal government is scheduled to release its budget today at 4:00 PM EDTLevi Straus gained $0.58 to $19.99 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal first quarter earnings. Capital One (COF $129.28) is expected to open higher after announcing a $5 billion share buyback program...Read More

Today we are atop our main mast. We are facing the horizon, spyglass in hand. What do we see?Heavy weather. And it is barreling towards Wall Street.Detailed forecast to follow. First we record current meteorological conditions...Drenching rains today, with local flooding in the technology sector.The Dow Jones lost 144 rain-flogged points. The S&P 500 lost 44, while the Nasdaq Composite took a...Read More

Inflation is not a guessing game anymore; it's here. Every time you buy gas at the pump or groceries at the supermarket or book a plane ticket, the price increases are staring you in the face.The problem is that inflation cannot be isolated. It's not limited to what you pay to fill up your car, for example. Truckers have to pay the same higher prices for diesel fuel, which add to transportation co...Read More

One reason American movies are so bad these days is they have forgotten how to tell a story. Stuff just happens to characters. Cause, effect and consequence no longer exist in the workshops of Hollywood.And one might sense that these imperatives are likewise missing from what used to be known as real life in the USA, with all its stories and narratives. Stuff just happens to the people in this cou...Read More

Two years ago, I was in a debate about a crazy idea being floated around at the time. It was about a new kind of tax, not on income but on wealth. There was already something legally sketchy about the idea.It is pure punishment for increased value of assets even if they were never converted into income.How can it possibly make sense that you should pay taxes on the market value of something that i...Read More

Canada's 2022 Budget has proposed to provide a total of up to $3.8 billion over eight years to develop electric vehicle components such as batteries and permanent magnets and ensure that the country becomes a "vital part" of the global critical minerals industry. The budget allocates up to $1.5 billion for the development of critical minerals supply chains, with "a focus on priority deposits."...Read More

The mining industry is playing by the wrong rules, and has been for decades. Many of us are scientists, and believe truth is discovered by establishing all of the facts. However, as Oscar Wilde told us, the truth is rarely pure and never simple. Reality is easily distorted by incomplete data and misunderstood information, and what is real doesn't matter as much as people's perceptions, accurate or...Read More

Several analysts have adjusted higher their metal price assumptions for 2022 as the February Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, wreaking havoc on global metals and mineral supply chains.Moody's Investors Service released a report on Apr. 6 flagging spiking prices for commodities Russia is a crucial producer of. These include aluminum, zinc, nickel, copper, gold and metallurgical and thermal coa...Read More

Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) is aiming to report an initial inferred resource for its recently acquired Great Bear (Dixie) project in Red Lake, Ont., by the end of the year. The gold miner, which paid $1.8 billion in cash and shares for Great Bear in a deal that closed in late February, plans to start a prefeasibility study on the project in 2023. With 10 drill rigs at work at Dixie, Kinros...Read More

With the addition of a first resource for the Larkin Zone at its Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia, Karora Resources (TSX: KRR; US-OTC: KRRGF) has increased its measured and indicated gold resources, net of depletions, by 8% and its inferred resources by 43%. The Larkin Zone holds 1.4 million tonnes grading 2.6 grams gold per tonne for 119,000 oz. gold in the measured and indicated category....Read More

Colombia plans to hold two bidding rounds - one for gold and one for coal exploration contracts - before the end of June, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the country's mining sector.Speaking at the ELAMI mining conference held this week, the president of the national mining association ANM, Juan Miguel Dur??n, said the first round of bids will be launched this month and will focus on coa...Read More

Did you hear about the Russian jet that crashed outside of Kyiv?It ran out of coal.Kidding.But if Ukrainian intelligence is accurate, 150 Russian aircraft have been successfully downed over the course of the war so far.And if British intelligence is correct, at least one of those jets was shot down by fellow Russians in a friendly-fire incident."We've seen Russian soldiers - short of weapons and m...Read More

I love the spectacle Opening Day brings.Baseball fans are never more excited than they are at this time of year. After all, every team is in first place on Opening Day. From Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to Citi Field in Queens, you can feel the electricity in the air in early April. Truth be told, there are few things I enjoy more than taking in a baseball game with friends and family on a warm...Read More

Stansberry Research, Released on 4/8/22"America has stopped producing products, we produce bubbles," says best-selling author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," Robert Kiyosaki. He warns inflation levels correlate to a serious problem only getting worse, adding that, "the repo market has inverted again," and a recession is imminent. Kiyosaki asserts that Solana is in the very beginning stages and has a "lon...Read More

Trends Research, Released on 4/7/22Peter Schiff, the chief economist at Euro Pacific Capital, told Gerald Celente in an interview published Thursday that Americans need to be prepared for a "dramatic collapse" of the economy."Interest rates are going substantially higher from here. They're still much too low," he said. "We're now kind of approaching three percent yields on U.S. treasuries, we're n...Read More