Small Stones Lead as U.S. Holiday Demand Firms

De Beers' realized rough price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year over year for Q2. This is a quarterly benchmark rather than today's move, but it frames how far the miner has adjusted prices to move goods into a cautious midstream.

Rapaport's monthly RAPI shows 0.50 ct goods up 4.10% against just 0.57% for 1 ct goods, the clearest sign yet that this month's bid is concentrating in smaller, gift-priced stones rather than larger goods.

The shekel firmed 1.37% against the dollar this week (USD/ILS 3.01), quietly lifting Israeli desks' shekel-denominated costs, while gold's 6.79% monthly pullback to $4,379/oz eases jewelry metal input just as U.S. holiday spending forecasts point higher. India's polished exports at $925M, down 4.93% YoY in August, keep the midstream backdrop soft.

Signet's Joan Hilson signals firming natural-diamond demand into the holidays. A read from the largest U.S. multi-banner retailer, if it holds, is likely to pull upstream into specific size and quality bands rather than lift the whole market evenly.

MadridJoya's 75th edition opens Sep 24–27 at IFEMA Madrid, the first in a dense autumn show calendar that continues through Doha and Istanbul.