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
Fluorescent Diamonds: GIA to Introduce Clearer Guidance
According to GIA, around 25% to 35% of all diamonds show some level of fluorescence. Greater transparency about this significant segment of the market could help improve confidence among both consumers and the jewellery trade.
Later this year, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will introduce new wording in its diamond grading reports to reduce confusion about fluorescent diamonds. The update, expected in the fourth quarter, is one of the most important steps taken by a grading laboratory to explain this feature more clearly to both the jewellery trade and consumers.
Rapaport Intelligence Report explores what this change could mean for the diamond market. Fluorescence has had a long and complicated history. In the past, fluorescent diamonds often sold at premium prices. However, attitudes changed during the diamond boom of the 1970s and again after a grading controversy in South Korea in the early 1990s. Although later gemological research helped improve confidence in fluorescent diamonds, many buyers still view them negatively, and they often sell at discounted prices.
The report also looks at how these discounts have changed over the past six years through both strong and weak market conditions. In addition, the report explains two key questions: how fluorescence affects a diamond’s appearance and whether it influences its color grade. It also considers whether GIA’s new report comments could change how buyers view fluorescent diamonds.
The report revisits a long-debated issue—does fluorescence really affect a diamond’s beauty, or are today’s concerns mainly based on old perceptions that continue to influence buying decisions?
According to GIA, around 25% to 35% of all diamonds show some level of fluorescence. Greater transparency about this significant segment of the market could help improve confidence among both consumers and the jewellery trade.
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