Christmas Jewelry Sales Support Gold & Silver Demand

As global consumers remain in the malls and online shopping retailers are celebrating all the way to the bank. Online sellers are reporting a significant jump in jewelry sales and higher price items. Mall shops are seeing a surge in more luxury items while Tiffany’s and Bulgari are saying that sales are exceeding expectations as consumers are spending big time for the first time in years.

The jewelry industry seems poised for a glittering future. Annual global sales of €148 billion are expected to grow at a healthy clip of 5 to 6 percent each year,

totaling €250 billion by 2020. Consumer appetite for jewelry, which was dampened by the global recession, now appears more voracious than ever.

But the industry is as dynamic as it is fast growing. Consequential changes are under way, both in consumer behavior as well as in the industry itself. Jewelry players can’t simply do business as usual and expect to thrive; they must be alert and responsive to important trends and developments or else risk being left behind by more agile competitors.

Consumer demand and physical purchases are supporting prices of precious metals. Gold is trading at 1197.60 remaining in a tight range just under $1200 while silver added 23 points to hover just over the $16.00 price level. Platinum is holding at 1197.80 in a rare occurrence as the two prime investment metals are at the same price. Traders are expected to push up platinum prices as they buy up the cheap commodity. Platinum added 0.1 percent after a 2.5 percent decline last week.

Gold climbed as the dollar fell from a five-year high amid signs of rising physical demand. Bloomberg reports that the Federal Reserve last week replaced a reference to borrowing costs staying low for a “considerable time” with a pledge to be patient on the timing for higher rates. Swiss gold exports climbed to the highest this year, and flows from the U.K. suggest Swiss refineries are working at full capacity to meet demand from Asia, UBS Group AG said last week. Trading of the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s benchmark bullion spot contract advanced on Dec. 18 to the highest since April 2013.

“Considering that the dollar has gained across the board, gold has been holding up extremely well,” Dominic Schneider, an analyst at UBS’s wealth-management unit.

gained in the morning session to trade in the green at 2.895 as the metal has been steadily recovering losses since the beginning of the month. Palladium is flat at 805.80. Metals are expected to sit in this range through the holiday season.  Copper rose more around 1 percent on Friday, leading other base metals higher as recent sharp falls prompted some bargain hunting among investors, who were also encouraged by gains in oil and equities. For the year, copper is down some 13 percent on worries the market is heading towards surplus after several years of deficit, and on slowing economic growth in China, which consumes nearly half the world’s copper.

The copper market recorded a deficit of 62,000 tonnes in the January to October period, which follows a surplus of 281,000 tonnes in the whole of 2013, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics.