Diamond Prices Are Falling, but Don’t Rush to Buy an Engagement Ring

Diamond Prices Are Falling, but Don’t Rush to Buy an Engagement Ring

The Sun-Drop diamond of South Africa has been graded "fancy vivid yellow," the highest color grading for a yellow diamond. The 110.03 carats diamond sold for more than $10.9 million dollars at Sotheby's last November.
REUTERS/Michael Buholzer
By Millie Dent

Diamond prices are getting slashed, but that doesn’t mean you should run out to the jewelry store right now.

De Beers, the world’s largest producer and distributor of diamonds by value, is cutting diamond prices by as much as 9 percent, according to Bloomberg.

Diamond prices have already slumped over the past year as demand has fallen, partly as a result of the economic slowdown in China, the second-biggest market for the precious stones.

Related: Can Gold Regain Its Shine?

De Beers, which is a unit of mining giant Anglo American and controls one-third of the global diamond market, initially tried to stabilize prices by ramping down its production. It had started the year with a production goal of 34 million carats, but has twice slashed the goal to a current 29 million to 31 million carats.

That hasn’t been enough to counterbalance sagging demand, so De Beers says it will invest in a holiday marketing campaign in an attempt to boost consumer interest. The campaign will be focused in the U.S. and China, the world’s two leading diamond markets, and will primarily target men buying diamond jewelry gifts for their partners.                                                                             

In other words, you can expect to see a whole lot of diamond commercials soon — and in an interview with The Fiscal Times, one diamond industry expert predicted that the industry’s struggles will lead at least some retailers to cut prices this holiday season.

Related: Putin’s Spokesman Wears a Golden Skull Watch Worth $620K​​

The De Beers price cuts probably won’t have much effect on prices at high-end jewelry retailers such as Tiffany’s, though. These stores only purchase gems from a limited number of producers and since the diamonds they use are higher in value, their prices aren’t as vulnerable to market pressures as less valuable stones.

But it never hurts to look, right?

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iStockphoto/The Fiscal Times
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President Trump signed a short-term continuing resolution today to fund the federal government through Friday, December 22.

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Here's to small victories!

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REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Michael Rainey

The Republican tax cuts won’t do much for economic growth, former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan told CNBC Wednesday, but they will damage the country’s fiscal situation while creating the threat of stagflation. "This is a terrible fiscal situation we've got ourselves into," Greenspan said. "The administration is doing tax cuts and a spending decrease, but he's doing them in the wrong order. What we need right now is to focus totally on reducing the debt."

The US Economy Hits a Sweet Spot

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FILE PHOTO: People line up for taxi across the street from the New York Times head office in New York
Carlo Allegri
By The Fiscal Times Staff

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Using the hashtag #thetaxbillshurts, the NYT Opinion account posted phone numbers for Sens. Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, James Lankford, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Jerry Moran. It urged readers to call the senators and encourage them to oppose the bill.

In an editorial published Tuesday night, the Times wrote that “Republican senators have a choice. They can follow the will of their donors and vote to take money from the middle class and give it to the wealthiest people in the world. Or they can vote no, to protect the public and the financial health of the government.”

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin smiles during the 2017 Institute of International Finance (IIF) policy summit in Washington
REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
By The Fiscal Times Staff

President Trump met with members of the Senate Finance Committee Monday and is scheduled to attend Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch and make a personal push for the tax plan on Tuesday. Will he be a more effective salesman than surrogates in his administration?

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