Platinum draws fresh interest from China's jewelers as gold prices test buyers' wallets
Surging gold prices, which hit a record high above $3,500 an ounce in April, have deterred even buyers from China, who have a cultural attachment to the yellow metal.
In the first quarter of the year, gold jewelry sales in China tanked nearly 27% from a year ago to 134.5 tons, according to the China Gold Association.
Meanwhile, gold bar and coin consumption surged nearly 30%, showing that investor demand for haven assets remains strong.
"Jewelry fabricators and distributors are trying to save themselves because gold jewelry sales are falling off a cliff. They need to find a new metal for jewelry so that they can survive," Weibin Deng, the regional head for Asia Pacific at the World Platinum Investment Council, told Business Insider.
China imported 11.5 metric tons of platinum in April, its highest monthly intake in a year.
That demand has helped push global platinum prices up around 40% year-to-date, with spot prices near $1,265 per ounce. Spot gold prices have also surged, up roughly 30% over the same period.
The price of platinum is still about one-third of gold, making the white precious metal a compelling proposition for Chinese consumers. In China, jewelry is generally priced by weight rather than on a per-piece basis, said Deng.
"It cannot be too expensive, otherwise people wouldn't buy it," he said of the price-sensitive Chinese market.
Goldman Sachs analysts wrote on Tuesday that platinum's blistering rally lacks fundamental support. They said the metal's issues include price-sensitive Chinese demand, slowing auto demand, and the expectation that there will be no significant decline in supply.
The analysts attributed strong gains in the platinum market to speculative demand and high gold prices, which are keeping investors away from trading in the yellow metal.
"This hesitancy likely stems from investors believing they missed the initial rally," wrote the Goldman analysts, referring to the blistering gold rally earlier.
"Instead, interest has shifted to other precious metals as investors seek catch-up opportunities," they wrote.
How the World Platinum Council plans to boost demand
The WPIC is stepping up marketing and public education to position platinum as a precious metal that has investment value and room to run, Deng said.
Deng said the council is also working with Chinese jewelers to be more efficient in terms of fabrication and market operations to lower prices for consumers
Deng said it's more expensive to work on platinum than gold as it requires more energy to melt the white metal. But reducing production costs is key to making platinum jewelry more accessible to consumers, he added.
Another challenge: The gold market is far more liquid. It's easier for consumers to sell or trade in gold jewelry with a small discount.
WPIC is partnering with jewelers in China to develop similar resale channels for platinum pieces.
Platinum isn't just for jewelry. It's used in everything from car parts to electronics. That broad demand helps support its value.
But according to Deng, it's platinum's visibility in jewelry that plays a crucial role in how consumers perceive it as a precious metal.
"Gold and silver have long been seen as currencies and stores of value around the world. To make the platinum jewelry market sustainable, consumers need to view platinum the same way — as a store of value," he said.
Deng acknowledged that gold is likely to remain the ultimate store of value in the eyes of the consumer, but even a small demand switch from gold to platinum would be significant.
The BofA analysts wrote last week that even a 1% switch in gold to platinum jewelry could help double the white metal's supply deficit to 1.6 million ounces, which would help support prices.

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CNBC
16 minutes ago
- CNBC
Here are the 4 big things we're watching in a busy week ahead for the stock market
Buckle up. It's a jam-packed week ahead, with a host of influential companies set to report alongside a Federal Reserve meeting — and, if that wasn't enough, there's fresh inflation and jobs data, too. On top of all that, we'll keep a close eye on any trade deal headlines ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline set by the Trump administration. In particular, we'll be watching for any agreement with the European Union. U.S. and Chinese officials are also set to meet in Sweden for another round of trade talks. Last week, the U.S. trade deal with Japan helped push the S & P 500 to record highs. Now, here's a closer look at what to expect in the week ahead from the Fed, the week's economic data releases and Club earnings. 1. Fed: Despite President Donald Trump 's pressure campaign, the central bank on Wednesday afternoon is widely expected to keep its benchmark overnight lending rate steady in the range of 4.25% to 4.5%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool . Instead, the question on investors' minds is whether a cut at the Fed's September meeting is on the table, so they'll be listening for whether Chairman Jerome Powell lays the groundwork for that during his typical post-meeting press conference. We don't expect Powell to change his tune about the Fed's data-dependency in making policy decisions, even in the face of Trump's criticism. On that note, we want to hear how Powell characterizes the resiliency seen in the labor market — initial jobless claims have dropped for six straight weeks, for example — and the inflation trends. While Trump's tariffs haven't yet led to a dramatic upturn in inflation, recent reports are showing a slight uptick , and there's a belief that U.S. companies absorbing the tariffs can only do so for so long before needing to raise prices. As of Saturday, the market put 62% odds on a quarter-point cut in September. Before the Fed's decision Wednesday, we'll get the first reading of second-quarter gross domestic product, which could be discussed during Powell's press conference. 2. Inflation: After the Fed's meeting concludes, tariff effects will stay in the spotlight thanks to the release of the June personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index on Thursday morning. This is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, despite the consumer price index (CPI) garnering more attention. There are some differences in the way the two gauges are calculated — particularly on housing and health-care inputs — but what stays the same is that investors are looking for tariff-related signs of inflation. For example, in the June CPI report tariff-sensitive categories like furniture and apparel showed outsized increases. For the PCE, economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 0.3% month-over-month increase and an annual rate of 2.5%. On a core basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, the Dow Jones consensus is for a 0.3% monthly gain and 2.7% annual increase. 3. Jobs, jobs, jobs: The big labor market event of the week is Friday's nonfarm payrolls report for the month of July, offering Wall Street a look at the pace of hiring in the face of trade policy uncertainty. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. labor market has continued to defy expectations for a material slowdown. For July, the consensus is that the U.S. economy added 102,000 jobs and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.2% from 4.1% in June, according to Dow Jones. Revisions to the prior months reports are something to watch. Ahead of Friday's release, we'll get the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Tuesday. The so-called JOLTS measures the amount of slack in the labor market, carrying implications for wage inflation. On Wednesday, payroll processing firm ADP releases its monthly look at private hiring — but, as we once again saw with the June data, it's not predictive of what the official government report will say. Thursday morning will bring the latest batch of first-time filings for unemployment insurance, known as initial jobless claims. Will it be seven weeks in a row of declines? One area of weakness in recent jobs data has been continuing claims, which suggests that while layoffs are going in the right direction, it's taking people time to get rehired. 4. Earnings: There are seven Club names reporting in the week ahead. All revenue and sales estimates provided below are courtesy of LSEG. Starbucks kicks off the action Tuesday night, and investors will be searching for additional signs of progress in CEO Brian Niccol's revitalization efforts. In its mostly disappointing April earnings report, Niccol had good things to say about the roughly 700 stores where it was piloting staffing and deployment changes. We hope that continued, with the benefits spreading to more cafes across the country. The FactSet consensus is for Starbucks to report its sixth straight quarter of same-store sales declines, at minus 1.3%. While necessary to turn the business around, Niccol's investments aren't cheap, so we don't expect strong profitability metrics this quarter, either. We do, however, hope that management is mindful that telling investors that earnings per share isn't a great metric to judge the turnaround may not go over well. Analysts expect total revenue of $9.31 billion and earnings per share of 65 cents. Meta Platforms reports after the close Wednesday. An expensive question on investors' minds: How much has Meta's spending spree on artificial intelligence talent cost so far? In April, the Instagram parent lowered its total expense guidance to $113 billion to $118 billion, down $1 billion on both ends of the range. Will that need to be revised higher? Similarly, will Meta's capital expenditures guidance of $64 billion to $72 billion be adjusted to account for higher spending on AI chips and data centers? The continued strength of Meta's social media ad business — and how that's driven earnings-per-share growth — has quelled concerns about aggressive AI spending. This time around, the market is looking for Family of Apps revenue to increase 14.8% on annual basis, according to FactSet. Total revenues are expected to be $43.84 alongside EPS of $5.91. Joining Meta on Wednesday night is fellow tech giant Microsoft , which is reporting its fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter results. The most important line item is the growth of the cloud-computing business Azure, and the AI services contributions to that expansion. Last quarter, Azure grew a better-than-expected 35% on a constant-currency basis, with AI being responsible for 16 points of growth. For the June period, the FactSet consensus for Azure is growth of 34.9% (there's no estimate for AI, specifically). Overall, analysts expect Microsoft to report earnings per share of $3.37 on revenue of $73.81 billion. Microsoft's capex commentary for its fiscal 2026 will also be note of note, carrying implications for leading AI chipmaker Nvidia and the likes of industrials such as Eaton, which supplies electrical equipment for data centers. The current consensus is for capex of $73.9 billion in fiscal 2026, according to FactSet. We'll also listen for any updates on the contract renegotiations with frenemy OpenAI, which is seeking greater independence from its early benefactor. Bristol Myers Squibb will report results on Thursday before the open. Sales of Cobenfy, the company's new schizophrenia treatment, will be a key watch item for investors. We're also interested to hear about other potential indications for Cobenfy, such as its use in the treatment of Alzheimer's psychosis, with late-stage trial data expected later this year. The initial response that Bristol Myers is seeing to its recently announced plan to sell blood-thinning medication Eliquis directly to patients through its Eliquis 360 support program will also be something to watch out for during the conference call. Analysts may also ask about Cristian Massacesi joining as its new chief medical officer. The Street is looking for earnings of $1.07 per share on revenue of $11.38 billion. Apple joins the parade of tech earnings after the bell Thursday. After the March quarter saw a "pull-forward" in iPhone sales as consumers rushed to beat fears of tariff-driven price hikes, there's a belief that the final two quarters of Apple's September-ended fiscal year will be softer than before. For the three months ended in June, the FactSet consensus is for iPhone sales of $40 billion. A few more questions: Will Apple's high-margin Services business get back on track after a light miss in the March quarter? Did the estimated $900 million tariff impact for the June quarter materialize, and can management shed any more light on its supply chain and artificial intelligence strategies going forward? There's no question Apple has been a frustrating stock this year, but as long as the iPhone remains the best consumer hardware device on the market, there's time to turn it around. Analysts expect total revenue of $89.33 billion and earnings per share of $1.43. Amazon will also report after the bell on Thursday. Revenue growth and profitability at cloud unit Amazon Web Services remains the key metric for investors to watch. On the retail side, we're also interested in more details on how Amazon is leveraging AI and automation in its warehouses and throughout its massive logistics network. Though the four-day Prime Day event won't be reflected in the reported numbers — given it was in July (third quarter) — we're still interested to hear management's commentary on the event, as it will no doubt play into the guidance the team provides. The combination of Prime Day and the back-to-school season stands to support both consumer demand and ad revenue growth in the third quarter. Analysts expect total revenue of $162.06 billion and earnings per share of $1.32. Linde will be out with results on Friday, before the opening bell. We're simply looking for more of the consistency we've come to know and love from Linde. However, outside of the numbers, it will be interesting to see what management has to say about the various industries the company serves. A commentary on how tariffs are affecting demand from customers will also help better inform our view on various sectors of the economy. Also of interest will be management's view on the recently announced long-term agreements to supply the U.S. space industry. As for earnings, last time around, management baked in the assumption of economic deterioration and recessionary conditions. Given the resiliency we've seen since then and the increased clarity as it relates to tariffs, we'll look for the team to revise their outlook for the remained of the year. Analysts are looking for earnings of $4.03 on revenue of $8.35 billion. Week ahead Monday, July 28 Before the bell earnings: New Gold (NGD), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), Alerus Financial Corporation (ALRS), Bank of Hawaii (BOH), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) After the bell: Celestica (CLS), Rambus (RMBS), Tilray (TLRY), WM (WM), Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), Crane (CR), Whirlpool (WHR), Amkor Technology (AMKR), Brixmor Property Group (BRX), Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC), Universal Health Services (UHS), Brown & Brown (BRO), Veralto (VLTO) Tuesday, July 29 FHFA Home Price Index at 9 a.m. ET Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: UnitedHealth (UNH), SoFi (SOFI), PayPal (PYPL), Boeing (BA), United Parcel Service (UPS), Spotify (SPOT), Merck (MRK), Nucor (NUE), AstraZeneca (AZN), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Procter & Gamble (PG), Carrier Global (CARR), American Tower (AMT), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Polaris (PII), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), Stellantis (STLA) After the bell: Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), Visa (V), Marathon Digital (MARA), Booking (BKNG), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Seagate (STX), Teradyne (TER), Penumbra (PEN), PPG Industries (PPG), Republic Services (RSG), Avis Budget (CAR), Caesars Entertainment (CZR) Wednesday, July 30 ADP Employment Survey at 8:15 a.m. ET First look at Q2 U.S. GDP at 8:30 a.m. ET Federal Reserve interest rate decision at 2 p.m. ET Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET Before the bell: Altria (MO), Vertiv (VRT), Virtu Financial (VIRT), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), Generac (GNRC), Etsy (ETSY), GE HealthCare (GEHC), Hershey Company (HSY), Humana (HUM), Harley-Davidson (HOG), VF Corp. (VFC), Vita Coco Company (COCO), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) After the bell: Meta Platforms. (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Robinhood Markets (HOOD), Applied Digital (APLD), Carvana (CVNA), Lam Research (LRCX), Qualcomm (QCOM), Ford Motor (F), Arm Holdings (ARM), Albemarle (ALB), MGM Resorts International (MGM), Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM), Allstate (ALL), Brookfield (BN), Western Digital (WDC), eBay (EBAY) Thursday, July 31 Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index at 8:30 a.m. ET Initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET Before the bell: CVS Health (CVS), Roblox (RBLX), Cameco (CCJ), Carpenter Technology (CRS), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), AbbVie (ABBV), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) , Howmet Aerospace (HWM), Baxter International (BAX), Builders FirstSource (BLDR), Cigna (CI), Canada Goose (GOOS), Mastercard (MA), PG & E (PCG), Shake Shack (SHAK), SiriusXM (SIRI), Southern Company (SO) After the bell: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), MicroStrategy (MSTR), Reddit (RDDT), Coinbase Global (COIN), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Enovix Corporation (ENVX), Roku (ROKU), Bloom Energy (BE), Cloudflare (NET), Cable ONE (CABO), Innodata (INOD), MasTec (MTZ), AXT (AXTI), Beazer Homes USA (BZH), Eldorado Gold (EGO), Edison International (EIX) Friday, August 1 Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs deadline Nonfarm payrolls report at 8:30 a.m. ET Before the bell: Linde (LIN), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), CNH Global (CNH), Dominion Energy (D), AES (AES), Cboe Global Markets (CBOE), Fulgent Genetics (FLGT), Fluor (FLR), LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), Ocugen (OCGN), T. Rowe Price (TROW), Ameren (AEE), Ares Management (ARES), Avantor (AVTR) (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.


Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
China Calls for Global AI Rules as U.S. Escalates Tech Fight – What Investors Should Watch
China is proposing to lead the creation of a new international body to shape the future of artificial intelligence. Speaking at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Premier Li Qiang called for a World AI Cooperation Organization, aiming to make AI development more inclusive and to prevent it from being dominated by a handful of nations or companies. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. The proposal comes as the global AI race accelerates. Premier Li cited the need for shared governance to address the risks tied to AI, from job losses to security concerns. Former Google (GOOG) chief executive Eric Schmidt backed the idea of global collaboration, saying the U.S. and China should work together to maintain stability and ensure human control over powerful AI systems. Tensions Rise as China Courts Allies and the U.S. Doubles Down However, turning that vision into a working framework will not be easy, as the U.S. is taking a different path. Just days before the conference, President Donald Trump signed new executive orders to ease regulations and boost energy access for AI infrastructure, including data centers. These moves are designed to strengthen companies like OpenAI and Google while reinforcing America's lead in advanced AI. In the meantime, geopolitical friction remains high. U.S. restrictions on Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) chips continue to limit China's access to high-end semiconductors. Premier Li acknowledged these supply chain issues and reaffirmed China's goal to reduce its reliance on foreign technology. That includes support for homegrown companies like DeepSeek, which has gained attention for scaling up open-sourced models and AI agents. China's strategy also includes outreach to the Global South, including partnerships with Brazil and African nations. However, international trust remains a hurdle. Western companies and governments are hesitant to align with a governance model led by Beijing, especially regarding concerns around data access, intellectual property, and dual-use technologies. Takeaway for Investors For investors, the gap between cooperation and competition is clear. Chinese firms are racing to set their own benchmarks, while U.S. players double down on domestic infrastructure and AI regulation. The idea of a global AI framework may gain traction diplomatically, but market dynamics suggest a more fragmented path forward. Whether this initiative reshapes AI development or becomes another diplomatic flashpoint will depend on how governments and companies balance access, risk, and control in the months ahead. Using TipRanks' Comparison Tool, we've analyzed several leading AI stocks that could be influenced by geopolitical tensions, shifting regulations, and broader market dynamics.


Axios
5 hours ago
- Axios
AI's global race in the dark
The U.S.'s great AI race with China, now freshly embraced by President Trump, is a competition in the dark with no clear prize or finish line. Why it matters: Similar "races" of the past — like the nuclear arms race and the space race — have sparked innovation, but victories haven't lasted long or meant much. The big picture: Both Silicon Valley and the U.S. government now agree that we must invest untold billions to build supporting infrastructure for an error-prone, energy-hungry technology with an unproven business model and an unpredictable impact on the economy and jobs. What they're saying:"America is the country that started the AI race. And as president of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it," Trump said at a Wednesday event titled "Winning the AI Race." Policy experts and industry leaders who promote the "race" idea argue that the U.S. and China are in a head-to-head competition to win the future of AI by achieving research breakthroughs, establishing the technology's standards and breaking the AGI or "superintelligence" barrier. They suggest that the world faces a binary choice between free, U.S.-developed AI imbued with democratic values or a Chinese alternative that's under the thumb of the Communist Party. Flashback: The last time a scientific race had truly world-shaping consequences was during the Second World War, as the Manhattan Project beat the Nazis to the atomic bomb. But Germany surrendered well before the U.S. had revealed or made use of its discovery. The nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union that followed was a decades-long stalemate that cost fortunes and more than once left the planet teetering on an apocalyptic brink. The 1960s space race was similarly inconclusive. Russia got humanity into space ahead of the U.S., but the U.S. made it to the moon first. Once that leg of the race was over, both countries retreated from further human exploration of space for decades. State of play: With AI, U.S. leaders are once again saying the race is on — but this time the scorecard is even murkier. "Build a bomb before Hitler" or "Put a man on the moon" are comprehensible objectives, but no one is providing similar clarity for the AI competition. The best the industry can say is that we are racing toward AI that's smarter than people. But no two companies or experts have the same definition of "smart" — for humans or AI models. We can't even say with confidence which of any two AI models is "smarter" right now, because we lack good measures and we don't always know or agree on what we want the technology to do. Between the lines: The "beat China" drumbeat is coming largely from inside the industry, which now has a direct line to the White House via Trump's AI adviser, David Sacks. "Whoever ends up winning ends up building the AI rails for the world," OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane said at an Axios event in March. Arguing for controls on U.S. chip exports to China earlier this year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei described competitor DeepSeek as "beholden to an authoritarian government that has committed human rights violations, has behaved aggressively on the world stage, and will be far more unfettered in these actions if they're able to match the U.S. in AI." Yes, but: In the era of the second Trump administration, many Americans view their own government as increasingly authoritarian. With Trump himself getting into the business of dictating the political slant of AI products, it's harder for America's champions to sell U.S. alternatives as more "free." China has been catching up to the U.S. in AI research and development, most tech experts agree. They see the U.S. maintaining a shrinking lead of at most a couple of years and perhaps as little as months. But this edge is largely meaningless, since innovations propagate broadly and quickly in the AI industry. And cultural and language differences mean that the U.S. and its allies will never just switch over to Chinese suppliers even if their AI outruns the U.S. competition. In this, AI is more like social media than like steel, solar panels or other fungible goods. The bottom line: The U.S. and China are both going to have increasingly advanced AI in coming years. The race between them is more a convenient fiction that marshals money and minds than a real conflict with an outcome that matters.