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How is Coronavirus impacting the jewellery and diamond trade?

diamondhoarder

diamondhoarder

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 5, 2012
Messages
999
I'm curious as to whether any PS members have noticed any impact on the jewellery/ diamond business yet as a result of Coronavirus. Not necessarily from the health aspect, but from the economic impact. I have several friends who have been impacted economically already - one lost their job as a result of conference cancellations and another lost all their client contracts for the rest of the year after their biggest clients imposed a spending freeze due to coronavirus.

With jewellery and diamonds being a luxury purchase I was wondering what kind of impact there will be from reduced spending power, or just caution on behalf of would-be customers, particularly as there is already talk of a possible global recession. I know that I am personally quite cautious about bling spending at the moment.

Should we expect to see retail diamond prices fall?

Will engagement purchases happen anyway, regardless? Or will they be postponed, or reduced in value?
 
It's really difficult to say. My portfolio isn't too healthy right now but it'll come back with time. However, I do work in the travel business....and I can say without a doubt this is worse than SARS< MERS>9/11 combined.
 
I definitely thought about it before I went to the antique show yesterday, since the vendors come from all over! And I also thought maybe I should save my money in case prices drop or in case everything goes crazy and I need a lot of money for, idk, medical expenses - but then I REALLY liked the earrings I bought, so.
 
I think it has to...anything that impacts travel and anything that impacts the stock market too...has to affect luxury goods like diamonds IMO.

And truthfully I am guessing more people are concerned with staying healthy and getting adequate food and water supplies and their medications vs diamond shopping.
 
Also haven't the recent Hong Kong gem shows been cancelled/ rescheduled for later in the year? I wonder what technical on effectively be?
 
distracts said:
I definitely thought about it before I went to the antique show yesterday, since the vendors come from all over! And I also thought maybe I should save my money in case prices drop or in case everything goes crazy and I need a lot of money for, idk, medical expenses - but then I REALLY liked the earrings I bought, so.
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:D Hearing how your love of bling overcame your concerns made me smile! I've had some of the same thoughts about needing to save money just in case we are effected financially.

I bought some bargain super-ideal cut diamond earrings on ebay just before it all kicked off, with a plan to break them up and reset the diamonds. The plan involves further expense, and the earrings are still in their return period - I am seriously considering whether I should return them.

If they were instantly wearable I know that I wouldnt want to return them, the diamonds are amazing and the price was really good. But because theres more expense and "work" involved before they will be as I want them, it doesnt feel like a top priority right now.

I'm always cautious when it comes to warning signs in the economy, as I like to have plenty of emergency funds set aside if the worst happens. In truth I have been about the return the earrings every day last week, but at the last minute I look at them again and say to me myself: "argh, but the diamonds are soooo nice", maybe I will think on it some more..... :wall:
 
missy said:
I think it has to...anything that impacts travel and anything that impacts the stock market too...has to affect luxury goods like diamonds IMO.

And truthfully I am guessing more people are concerned with staying healthy and getting adequate food and water supplies and their medications vs diamond shopping.
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Yes, I agree. I think there is bound to be some impact on these kind of luxury purchases in the face of more fundamental health and economic concerns.
 
I assume portfolios are affecting the purchases more than the virus. My stocks have dropped so big purchases are being put off.
 
missy said:
I think it has to...anything that impacts travel and anything that impacts the stock market too...has to affect luxury goods like diamonds IMO.

And truthfully I am guessing more people are concerned with staying healthy and getting adequate food and water supplies and their medications vs diamond shopping.
Click to expand...

Who would have thought toilet paper is more important than diamond rings ???
 
Looks like we are in for another bad day in the market. Futures down 1000 now. I have not seen a decline in diamond prices yet. I did read that due to the virus, prices, not necessarily retail prices, are down this past month.
 
Mlh said:
Looks like we are in for another bad day in the market. Futures down 1000 now. I have not seen a decline in diamond prices yet. I did read that due to the virus, prices, not necessarily retail prices, are down this past month.
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Yes, I woke up to seeing futures across all three indices down by almost 5% each!! :eek-2:
 
Has anyone seen if mining has been affected? Seems like Africa is still booming and there were some big mergers in February for gold mines.

When the market gets wobbly gold seems to go through the roof, but what of platinum?

On the other hand if raw materials can be shipped and items produced in isolated workshops then it is a safer industry than some. Hopefully those of us obsessed with colored stones can look forward to all that rough from Tucson being cut.

Will be interesting to see for sure.
 
Mlh said:
Oil crashed. Scary.
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I've been through several financial crises. This one seems to be the worst (or at least beginning to look like it will be).
 
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Gold took a small dip for a few days but is now back up. It’s so high right now I’m putting off a few projects
 
It looks like a reccision is on the way but lets not panic
The market will bounce back - it always dose
my retirement fund is medium high risk for medium high return, but there is plenty of time for my money to start growing again

People panicing amd pulling out their investments need to take a chill pill and calm down

Look on the bright side - oil is down,
go for a road trip
 
Mlh said:
Oil crashed. Scary.
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And I'm holding a lot of oil stocks...;( both of our IRAs are worthless and so is my other stock accounts. :((
 
Mjay said:
Gold took a small dip for a few days but is now back up. It’s so high right now I’m putting off a few projects
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I'm gonna sell some gold in two weeks.
 
Daisys and Diamonds said:
It looks like a reccision is on the way but lets not panic
The market will bounce back - it always dose
my retirement fund is medium high risk for medium high return, but there is plenty of time for my money to start growing again

People panicing amd pulling out their investments need to take a chill pill and calm down

Look on the bright side - oil is down,
go for a road trip
Click to expand...

I was POed at CNN because their headline this morning was that the market is crashing. They seem to have the most extreme take on things and today they are feeding the paranoia and making things worse.
I am definitely not feeling free and easy about spending...the dollar is weakening against the euro which is making everything more expensive while at the same time my portfolio is down. Not fun. I am putting bling buying and major home repairs on hold.
But staying healthy is countless times more important then what happens with the economy during this time.
 
Jimmianne said:
I was POed at CNN because their headline this morning was that the market is crashing. They seem to have the most extreme take on things and today they are feeding the paranoia and making things worse.
I am definitely not feeling free and easy about spending...the dollar is weakening against the euro which is making everything more expensive while at the same time my portfolio is down. Not fun. I am putting bling buying and major home repairs on hold.
But staying healthy is countless times more important then what happens with the economy during this time.
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The news media have a lot to answer for
but these days most reporting is the lowest common denominator and its more about ratings and sound bites than current events and the truth

Our dollar is always down aganist tbe greenback and the Euro, it just veries by how much
It makes buying things on the internet from overseas very exspensive

but a low kiwi dollar its good for exporters and our primary producers that drive our economy
mind you it helps if we can get our produce to its destination market - right now its piled up on the warf and in cool stores waiting for China to be open again
 
Daisys and Diamonds said:
It looks like a reccision is on the way but lets not panic
The market will bounce back - it always dose
my retirement fund is medium high risk for medium high return, but there is plenty of time for my money to start growing again

People panicing amd pulling out their investments need to take a chill pill and calm down

Look on the bright side - oil is down,
go for a road trip
Click to expand...

Agreed. Markets will bounce back. Q is when/ by how much more will stocks go down.

I'm concerned, aside from the obvious, about the economic impact to businesses and the consequent job losses. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope things will not get too much worse !!
 
Phoenix said:
Agreed. Markets will bounce back. Q is when/ by how much more will stocks go down.

I'm concerned, aside from the obvious, about the economic impact to businesses and the consequent job losses. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope things will not get too much worse !!
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Im not a fan of my county's government but they just anounced some reasonable economic stop gaps
It must be a very uncertain time for people working in tourism or hospitality
We have had lay offs in forestry
The CEO of Air NZ just took a very large pay cut which is to be commended
 
Daisys and Diamonds said:
Im not a fan of my county's government but they just anounced some reasonable economic stop gaps
It must be a very uncertain time for people working in tourism or hospitality
We have had lay offs in forestry
The CEO of Air NZ just took a very large pay cut which is to be commended
Click to expand...

I'm in the UK and we are waiting for our government's annual budget announcement on wednesday. There have been promises that there could be special measures introduced to help support businesses during the virus disruption, possibly with tax holidays and low cost loans. It is good that they are trying to help, although TBH its pretty clear that there are numerous small businesses who will not survive the downturn in demand resulting from this, even with the government's measures.
 
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