Good Mood, Same Issues Out of Vegas

I was getting relatively positive energy from Las Vegas over the weekend, with the usual stream of company announcements timed around the JCK show (see What's Happening in Vegas?).

Of course, the more important element of the show is sentiment and trading levels, which were perhaps best summed up by one subscriber who told me: “The feeling is that the US market is okay, but lab-grown keeps growing. In loose diamonds, only 2-carat and up is moving.”

That’s not a big surprise, as it has been a feature of the market for the past year or two.

From afar, at least (I wasn’t able to attend this year), it seems three themes dominated discussions at the show: lab-grown diamonds, the so-called K-economy, and who will buy De Beers. If you were there, drop me a line, I'd love to hear if you noticed anything beyond those.

For its part, De Beers didn’t unveil any major new strategic initiatives at the show, as it has tended to do in the past. That’s likely because it continues to evolve its Origins strategy and because it needs to project stability while Anglo American pursues the sale of its 85% stake in the company.

Remember, it’s less about the personalities involved and more about the value De Beers contains as a business, the value it brings to the market, and whether the new owners can unlock that potential to stimulate growth. I explore those questions in the latest Diamond Executive Report, The Value of De Beers.

JCK capped a busy month for the diamond trade, as reflected in the May 2026 News Roundup. Meanwhile, happy new month. Can you believe we're approaching the halfway mark of the year already?

This blog first appeared in the June 1 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters.

Image: Vegas Bubble - Crowds enter the trading hall at the opening of the JCK Show on Friday (Flickr/JCK Events)