International News
Gold, ‘Non-traditional reserve currencies’ eat into U.S. dollar’s reserve dominance: Wolf Richter
Gold and other reserve currencies – but not the euro or renminbi – are steadily eroding the U.S. dollar’s position as the world’s preeminent reserve asset, according to Wolf Richter, analyst and publisher of Wolf Street.
“The status of the US dollar as the dominant global reserve currency has helped the US fund its twin deficits, and thereby has enabled them: the huge fiscal deficit every year and the massive trade deficit every year,” Richter wrote in an article published Monday. “The reserve currency status comes from other central banks (not the Fed) having purchased trillions of USD-denominated assets such as Treasury securities, other government securities, corporate bonds, and even stocks. The dollar status as the dominant reserve currency has been crucial for the US, and as that dominance declines ever so slowly, risks pile up ever so slowly.”
Total holdings of USD-denominated securities by other central banks (not the Fed) fell by $59 billion to $6.63 trillion at the end of 2024, from $6.69 trillion at the end of 2023,” he noted. “And the dollar’s share declined to 57.8% of total allocated exchange reserves at the end of 2024, the lowest since 1994, down by 7.3 percentage points in 10 years, as central banks have been diversifying their holdings for years to assets denominated in currencies other than the dollar, and into gold.”
International News
Chow Tai Fook Cashes In On Hong Kong’s Tourism Comeback
As Travelers Return and Gold Prices Wobble, The Jewelry Giant Proves A 52% Profit Jump Is Anyone’s Best Accessory
Hong Kong jewelry giant Chow Tai Fook just wrapped up its fiscal year with fantastic numbers -group revenue climbed 5% to HKD 94.4 billion (about $12.05 billion), while profit didn’t just grow, it basically exploded — up 52% to a record HKD 9.08 billion ($1.15 billion).
So what’s behind the glow-up? Two words: tourists and trust. As travelers flooded back into Hong Kong and Macau, same-store sales there jumped a staggering 17%. Mainland China wasn’t far behind, posting 7% growth even as the company admitted things got a little shaky in the final quarter thanks to gold prices doing their usual rollercoaster routine.
Chow Tai Fook didn’t just get lucky — they’ve been quietly reinventing themselves. Think less “grandma’s jewelry counter,” more curated boutique energy: trading out older locations for spots in upscale malls and leaning hard into branded collections instead of generic gold-by-the-gram sales.
Fixed-price jewelry (the stuff with a set price tag, not market-rate gold) shot up 16%, with the diamond-studded Hua Collection emerging as one of the year’s breakout hits. Gold jewelry sales overall: up a modest 3%.Store count: 5,540 in mainland China, 96 across Hong Kong and Macau
In its own words, the company chalked up the rebound to brand transformation efforts paying off even amid a softer mainland market. At the same time, the tourism recovery did some heavy lifting for Hong Kong and Macau sales. Chow Tai Fook believes fiscal 2027 will be much stronger, with “significantly fewer” store closures, as demand stabilizes.
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ShowBuzz7 hours agoJewellery & Gem ASIA Hong Kong Will Feature More Than 1,100 Exhibitors From Around 30 Countries
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DiamondBuzz6 hours agoDivine Solitaires Taps UAE’s Growing Demand For High-End Natural Diamond Jewellery
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GlamBuzz8 hours agoDe Beers Group Celebrates The Natural Father-Daughter Bond With Pankaj Tripathi and Aashi
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International News7 hours agoChow Tai Fook Cashes In On Hong Kong’s Tourism Comeback
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