There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere
- Start-Up Proves Everything Really Is Better With Bacon
- Microsoft Store Employees Bust Out the Electric Cringe
- Madoff Auction: $4,750 for a Decoy Duck?
- The Bra That Doubles as a Putting Green
- This Town Will Pay YOU $10,000 to Buy a House
- Motorized Chair Formerly Known as La-Z-Boy Sells for $11,000
- CEOs Are Hilarious!
- We’ve Found the Green Shoots—in an Old Bank?
- Rock Band Weezer Uses Snuggie to Promote New Album
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Nielsen Ratings Coming to Video Games
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
- Strong Banks, Weak Credit: Treasury Rethinks TARP
- How Many US Consumers Will Shop this Weekend?
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- GE Capital Losses May See Dramatic Fall: JP Morgan
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- General Motors to Cut up to 9,500 Jobs in Europe
RSS FEED
Text Size 
Writer
Will it be a very bling-y Christmas?
(That’s right, we’re not waiting for Christmas in July — we’re tappin’ that tree in June!)
 |
Photo by: Stephen Durham Bling me up, Scotty! |
As we dig around the rubble of the economy for some glimmer of hope, DeBeers gives us a real shiner: They’re ramping up diamond production in anticipation of a better Christmas this year than last, Reuters reports.
That may sound ridiculous, given that three-quarters of retailers reporting chain-store sales this morning missed analysts’ targets and tomorrow's jobs report is expected to show the unemployment rate topped 9 percent last month.
But when you consider the industry has all but collapsed since the recession started, forcing DeBeers to slash production by more than 90 percent in the past year, it makes a little more sense.
"We're looking at a comparable period [last year] that was very depressed," said Des Kilalea, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
"It's not necessarily a statement that the world will be very healthy come Christmas — I don't think anybody believes that," Kilalea said. "I think everyone believes it will be a better Christmas compared to last year."
And DeBeers CEO Gareth Penny says demand isn’t down as much as you might think (tell that to Harry Winston) and is even up in China, leaving retailers to burn through their dwindling inventories.
"A large part of the market still grows — bridal jewelry, special-occasion jewelery, etc." Kilalea said. "That's probably as much as 50 percent of the market."
Plus, prices are down more than 20 percent and retailers want to move that bling, which means, providing you have a job, that it’s a great time to — Here comes the bride ... here comes the bride — get married!
Well that and the fact that Brad Pitt just bought his daughter, Shiloh, a $15,000 diamond and platinum necklace for her — wait for it — THIRD BIRTHDAY.
So, you know diamonds are totally in this year.
Losing your job is so last year.
____________________________________________
Browsing the Diamond Counter:
DeBeers (Anglo-American) [AAUK
Loading...
()
]
Harry Winston [HWD
Loading...
()
]
Tiffany [TIF
Loading...
()
]
Zales [ZLC
Loading...
()
]
Blue Nile [NILE
Loading...
()
]
________________________________________
More From CNBC.com:
- Should You Get Out of Gold?
- Green Shoots Have Shallow Roots
- With Wal-Mart Out of the Picture, Are Retail Sales Skewed?
- Five States to Lead US Out of Recession
- Mom Guilts Sons Into Robbing People to Pay Bills
- Do Consumers Really Want Small Cars?
- Small Homes Are the New Big Thing
- Geithner's House: What $7,500 Rent Buys You
- Meet Your Neighbor, the Survivalist
Questions? Comments? Write to .
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes