Skip Navigation Links
 
Wed, May 14, 2008
01:55 New York
 
 About Rapaport
About Us
Information Services
Diamond Trading
Diamond Certification
Corporate Responsibility
Fair Trade Jewelry
Events, Press Releases
 Join Rapaport - RapNet
Rapaport Diamond Report
RapNet - Diamond Trading
 Rapaport TradeWire
Sign up now - FREE!
 
Click Here

Market Comments 5/9/2008

U.S. retailers moving into clearance mode as higher oil and food prices reduce middle class luxury demand. U.S. consumers are being conditioned not to buy until items are significantly discounted. Heavy clearance drive at Zale pushes fiscal 3Q sales +6% to $477 mil., same-store +6%. Signet 1Q sales in U.S. -0.2% to $631 mil., same-store -5%, but sales in U.K. +5% to $192 mil. Department stores weak with Neiman Marcus 3Q -1% to $1 bil.; Nordstrom 1Q -4% to $1.9 bil.; JCPenney 1Q -5% to $4.1 bil. Big clearance at Saks drove 1Q sales +9% to $853 mil. Blue Nile 1Q sales +4% to $71 mil. due to 120% international growth and price increases. Profits -19% to $2.6 mil. with fair demand restricted to price points under $5k. Lender notifies House of Taylor of $4 mil. default. ALROSA 1Q08 profits -36% to $49 mil. due to weak dollar and lower rough demand. De Beers latest price increases for commercial qualities appear ill timed, exploitative and unsustainable as India and China not yet strong enough to replace rapidly declining U.S. market.



Latest News | Video Broadcasts | Fair Trade/Conflict Diamonds

Rapaport Price List | RapNet Price List | RapNet PriceGrid

RapNet | RapNet Diamonds for Sale | RapNet Prices | INDEX | Online Tender

Diamond Information & Education | Web Links
 
Please email us with your comments about our website.
Rapaport Broadcast
May 09 2008 | 6:58
More Videos
 Special Topics
Conflict Diamonds 
 
De Beers  
 


© Copyright 1982-2008 by Martin Rapaport. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Legal Notices
Index®, RapNet®, Rapaport®, PriceGrid™, Diamonds.Net™, and JNS®; are TradeMarks of Martin Rapaport.
While the information presented is from sources we believe reliable, we do not guarantee the accuracy
or validity of any information presented by Rapaport or the views expressed by users of our internet service.