<a href="http://blog.biggstock.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/PP_June_Summary_biggstock.gif"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1157" title="PP_June_Summary_biggstock" src="http://blog.biggstock.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/PP_June_Summary_biggstock-150x150.gif" alt="" width="350" height="350" /></a>Global polished diamond prices rebounded to their highest level in 19 months during June. The IDEX Online Polished Diamond Price Index rose to 117.2 for June; it last stood at this level near the end of 2008.

June’s IDEX Online Index indicates that diamond prices have recovered almost half of their precipitous decline that occurred in 2009. Global polished diamond prices bottomed at 108 during the summer and early fall of 2009, about 8 percent below their current level. At its height, the IDEX Online Polished Diamond Price Index stood at just above 128 in August 2008, about 9 percent higher than today’s average prices.

Since June 2009, the IDEX Online Polished Price Index has risen by 7.7 percent; based on average prices during June 2010, it has risen by 0.6 percent on a month-to-month basis – June versus May 2010.

On a day-to-day basis in June, the IDEX Online Polished Diamond Price Index spiked around June 11, retreated, and then rose again from June 20 to 24, with a modest pull-back for the balance of the month. First quarter sales trends from U.S. retailers and specialty jewelers indicate that people have resumed buying jewelry at a pace nearly equal to the robust days of two years ago. While consumer confidence has fallen, historically there is little correlation between retail sales and consumer confidence. In fact, in the U.S., there is an old adage: “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.”

We believe that diamond demand will continue to grow, resulting in a November-December holiday selling season this year that could see jewelry sales rise by a mid-to-high single digit level.

The graph below summarizes the IDEX Online Polished Price Index performance over the past two years.