As investors, we spend our professional lives making smart decisions with money. But how many of us are actively teaching the next generation to do the same? Research consistently shows that children who learn about money early develop stronger financial habits that last a lifetime. Yet most schools still don’t teach the basics of saving, investing, or how currency actually works. That gap starts at home — and can be bridged with the conversations we have with our kids.

That’s why Capnote is offering two free financial literacy ebooks for children when you sign up for 30 days or more.

Introducing the Smarter Money For Kids Book Series

The two ebooks are written by Kenna Ene and follow the financial adventures of Sammy the Bear — a warm, relatable character designed to make financial concepts approachable and fun for young readers. The series is available to purchase on Amazon, where you can read reviews from parents who have already introduced their children to Sammy’s world.

The first ebook, Sammy the Bear Learns About Currency, introduces children to the concept of money — what it is, how it works, and why understanding it matters. The second ebook, Sammy Bear Learns to Invest, takes the next step and teaches kids what investing means in a way that sparks curiosity rather than confusion.

Together the two books give children a complete foundation — from understanding what money is to understanding how to make it grow. These are concepts that most adults wish they had learned earlier, and now you can give your children that head start.

When you sign up to Capnote, you receive both ebooks completely free — books that other parents are already buying on Amazon because they are genuinely worth having on your child’s bookshelf.

Why Capnote is doing this

Capnote exists to make investment management smarter for professional investors. Our patented portfolio monitoring and research platform is trusted by over 1,000 investors who use it to save time, reduce risk, and improve performance.

But smarter investment management doesn’t stop with the current generation of investors. We believe financial literacy is one of the most valuable things a parent can give a child — and we wanted to do something meaningful to support that beyond the platform itself.

Pairing professional investment tools with children’s financial education felt like a natural expression of what Capnote stands for: building a smarter relationship with money at every level.

What Capnote users are saying

Our users consistently tell us that Capnote changes the way they work. 81% report 19% better portfolio performance, most within their first quarter. Features like patented value chains, automated monitoring, risk alerts, and one-click report generation give investors the visibility and time savings they need to focus on what actually matters — making better decisions.

When you add two free ebooks for your kids into that equation, signing up becomes an easy decision.

How to claim your free ebooks

Claiming is straightforward. Sign up at www.capnote.com and subscribe for 30 days or more. Your two free Sammy the Bear ebooks will be included with your account — yours to keep regardless of what you decide after your trial.

There is no complicated redemption process and no separate form to fill in. Sign up and after 30 days send an email to team@capnote.com and the books are yours.

Prefer to buy the physical paperback editions for your bookshelf? You can find the full Sammy the Bear series on Amazon here.

Start today

If you have been considering trying Capnote, now is a good time. You get full access to the platform that 1,000+ investors use to make smarter investment decisions — and two ebooks that could spark a lifelong love of financial literacy in your children.

Sign up at www.capnote.com. 14-day trial. Cancel any time.

Offer available for users who subscribe for 30 days or more.

The post Give Your Children the Gift of Financial Education For Free first appeared on Capnote.

You can also book a 10 min quick coffee chat at https://www.web3careercoach.co see if her services are right for you.

Continuing from where we left off in Part 1: Pivoting to Web3 Careers: A Guide for Web2 Professionals, this installment explores the Bitcoin-only maximalist culture, a significant aspect within the realm of Web3. The web3 ecosystem is characterized by its diverse cultural differences, which have a significant impact on career choices within the space. Bitcoin-focused companies, while not all run by Bitcoin maximalists, inevitably exist within the political nature of this industry. These companies prioritize hiring the best candidates for the job, irrespective of their personal coin ownership. However, understanding the cultural nuances and values of Bitcoin maximalists is essential for anyone considering a career in this domain. In this second installment of the series, we provide a crash course on Bitcoin maxi culture to bring you up to speed.

Our way or the highway

In light of recent scandals in the crypto space and the unprecedented money printing by the Federal Reserve, which many believe to be contributing to today’s high inflation, Bitcoin maximalists find some validation for their self-assuredness and “I told you so” attitudes. Startups dedicated solely to Bitcoin adhere to an all-or-nothing perspective, firmly believing that all other protocols will eventually operate within the Bitcoin ecosystem. So what exactly distinguishes Bitcoin from other blockchain protocols?

Security: There is an unwavering emphasis on security. Bitcoin enthusiasts prioritize security above all else, resulting in minimal changes to the base layer, except for essential upgrades like SegWit. Unlike Ethereum, Bitcoin’s protocol layer undergoes fewer upgrades. Additionally, Bitcoiners always opted for a layered approach with their L2 protocol, known as the Lightning Network. This innovative solution has served as an inspiration for Ethereum’s L2 teams, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, who have followed suit in implementing their own layered protocols.

Decentralization: A fundamental principle that ensures no central authority can control the network, promoting autonomy and eliminating single points of failure. This principle that started in Bitcoin is now shared by the entire web3 ecosystem.

Limited Supply: 21 million bitcoin

Immutability: with no exceptions. Bitcoin maxis criticized Ethereum for its decision to reverse transactions on the Ethereum blockchain following a vulnerability exploit in the smart contract code of the first DAO on Ethereum. The attacker stole approximately 3.6 million Ether (ETH), which was valued at around $50 million at that time. The incident had significant consequences for the Ethereum community and led to a controversial hard fork, resulting in the creation of two separate blockchains: The new forked code became Ethereum (ETH)and the immutable code that continued is called Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Censorship Resistance: Transactions on the Bitcoin network cannot be censored, making it an open and accessible financial system for all. Bitcoiner love to say “Bitcoin is also for your enemies.” Bitcoin maxis also argue that this principle can be reversed within other blockchain protocols.

Self Verification: Bitcoiners faced their own forking controversy due to ideological differences within the community. Known as the Bitcoin hash wars, in 2018, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) emerged as a result of disagreements over the Bitcoin community’s decision to maintain a 1 MB block size.

This size constraint was implemented in 2010 to help mitigate potential spam and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on the Bitcoin network. It also enables Bitcoin users to independently verify the authenticity of transactions and the supply of Bitcoin without relying on third-party blockchain explorers by running a full Bitcoin node.

If you have come across any battle worn Bitcoin maxis, they may have strong antagonistic views toward Coinbase and other “centralized’ crypto businesses because during the bitcoin hashwars in 2018, these crypto-native businesses sided with the Bitcoin Cash consortium. These centralized crypto-native business models were also very late to implement The Lightning Protocol ; which is a native DeFi protocol to bitcoin. Bitcoin Maxis saw both these decisions or lack thereof; as an indirect attack and lack of support for Bitcoin. What do you think? Do bitcoiners have a point?

Trustlessness: You will find that web3 has its own unique language based on the innovation of the bitcoin protocol. This term means that trust is minimized through cryptographic proofs and consensus mechanisms, eliminating the need for intermediaries.

Fungibility:  The interchangeability and indistinguishability of each Bitcoin are vital aspects that ensure the equal value and usability of all coins. Bitcoin maximalists place great importance on this principle. They have expressed concerns about certain startups, like Chainalysis, which they believe pose a threat to this fundamental aspect. These startups are criticized for flagging and marking coins that violate international sanctions or are involved in money laundering, as such actions are seen as compromising the core principles of the fungibility of all bitcoin.

Major Bitcoin players

Below is an overview of the different types of Bitcoin players and systems that you can look to for employment.

Lightning Network: The Lightning Network is a layer 2 protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, aiming to enable faster and more scalable transactions. It uses off-chain channels for instant micropayments and helps reduce transaction fees, making it easier for users to send small amounts of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Ordinals: Similar to the controversial nature Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have faced for their potential for artistic plagiarism, ordinals on Bitcoin have raised concerns about the integrity and fungibility of the blockchain. Both concepts introduce a unique and collectible aspect to the digital realm, allowing for the ownership and trading of distinct digital assets. However, these innovations have sparked debates among enthusiasts and experts regarding their long-term implications for the underlying technology and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem. The controversies surrounding both ordinals and NFTs serve as a reminder of the ongoing discussions and challenges faced by the digital asset community as it navigates the evolving landscape of blockchain-based collectibles.

Bitcoin-only exchanges: Some cryptocurrency exchanges focus exclusively on Bitcoin trading, offering users a platform to buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin without the presence of other cryptocurrencies. Examples of such exchanges include Bisq and Hodl Hodl.

Bitcoin-only brokers: Bitcoin brokers serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers, simplifying the process of purchasing and selling Bitcoin for fiat currencies or other assets. They often provide additional services such as storage, lending, and staking. Some notable Bitcoin brokers include River Financial and Swan Bitcoin.

Mining operations: Bitcoin mining is a crucial aspect of the ecosystem, as it secures the network and processes transactions. Various companies and organizations are involved in mining operations, contributing to the network’s overall hashrate.

Developer tools and infrastructure: As the Bitcoin ecosystem matures, more tools and resources are being developed to assist developers in building applications and services on top of the Bitcoin network. These tools can include software development kits (SDKs), libraries, and documentation that make it easier for developers to interact with the Bitcoin protocol.

Education and community: An important aspect of the Bitcoin ecosystem is its vibrant community, which is actively engaged in educating newcomers, promoting adoption, and fostering a healthy environment for discussion and collaboration. This includes bitcoin only podcasts, newsletters, online forums, meetups and conferences .

Now that you are armed with the main bitcoin maximalist principles, you are better equipped to navigate the career opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the Bitcoin industry. Whether you choose to work in a Bitcoin-only startup, engage with Bitcoin-focused companies, or explore other avenues within the web3 ecosystem, your understanding of the cultural landscape will enable you to make informed decisions and contribute meaningfully to the advancement of this transformative technology.

Remember to remain open-minded and adaptable as the web3 ecosystem continues to evolve, embracing new ideas, protocols, and cultural perspectives. The career landscape in Bitcoin and web3 as a whole is dynamic and offers exciting opportunities for innovation and growth. With your newfound understanding, you are well-positioned to embark on a rewarding and impactful career journey within the Bitcoin industry.

Stay tuned for the next installment of web3 protocols labeled the “Ethereum killers”. Nako Mbelle is the Founder of Fintech Recruiters and a web3 career coach. She can be found at web3careercoach or Fintech Recruiters, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The post Pivoting To Web3 Careers(Pt 2) – Bitcoin first appeared on Capnote.

Below are relevant highlights and excerpts. Finvar focuses on helping banks realize the benefits of technology highlighted by McKinsey.

• A McKinsey analysis suggested that African banks may need to achieve productivity gains of between 25 – 30% if they are to restore pre-pandemic profitability.

• There is also an opportunity to pass on these gains to consumers and assist governments in the drive to advance financial inclusion, which is a priority in many African countries. This would ultimately strengthen their role in rebuilding African economies in the post-pandemic era.

• The next technology horizon in banking has become a reality much faster than anticipated. Banks that are leading in this space are developing frequent customer engagement outside of traditional channels, providing customers with ease and convenience and taking advantage of AI for ultra-personalization—which is necessary to compete in cluttered markets—while reducing cost to serve.

• For example, a European bank that went through a tech-enabled transformation of its customer care achieved 25% improved productivity, among other key performance indicators, through digitization and adopting AI including cognitive agent, digital assistant, advanced-analytics-driven coaching, robotic process automation (RPA), and identification and verification (ID&V) robot.

• One of the key trends shaping the future of central and back office is the hyper-digitization of work. Research suggests that there is more than 50% automation potential across selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) functions and 40 to 60% cost-savings potential from using automation in these functions. 

• Leading banks are increasingly moving toward zero-based operations with the implementation of automation and digitization across the banking value chain.Despite several years of investment in lean, digital, and automation, McKinsey analysis estimates that a significant part of the banking value chain remains dependent on manual tasks, driving 60 – 70% of costs.

• Adopting technology and digitizing operations has additional benefits beyond cost efficiencies, including faster service through a significant reduction in processing time per order and payment, improved quality through prevention of payment-processing errors, and increased employee and customer satisfaction as employees shift their focus to higher customer-facing value-added tasks.

•  Banks have seen what’s possible and understand better where their weaknesses are. Furthermore, the projects, tools, and technologies to move the needle on productivity are available, especially in light of what market leaders have achieved. The remaining question is: Are banking industry leaders ready to seize the opportunity to continue this transformation and give the productivity challenge the management attention it commands?

Click here to read the full article. 

Written by Ikenna Ene

The post Can Technology Save & Enhance African Banking? first appeared on Capnote.

In today’s fast-paced and complex business environment, value chains play a critical role in ensuring the success of organizations. These value chains map relationships with strategic stakeholders including suppliers, customers, providers of capital, regulators and even competitors. As businesses strive to stay competitive, it is important for related professionals in procurement and finance to know the answers to questions such as:

• What is the real-time credit quality of customers or suppliers? How has this changed over the last year or quarter?
• Which suppliers or raw materials are the most pre-dominant in portfolios or for product development?
• How does your organization compare to competitors across key metrics for operational efficiency, valuation, and capital structure?

During the global financial crisis of 2008, it became clear that liquidity squeezes and financial difficulties across value chains could lead to risks to production or present opportunities to increase market share. Diligent investors also began to track these value chains more closely to give themselves an edge.

Capnote has powerful tools for value chains and peer comparisons that can help procurement and financial professionals dynamically track and further understand their complex value chains. It provides:

• Automated Financial Analysis: Financial analysis is the core of what the Capnote platform does – providing efficient access to information and converting raw data into insights to improve financial decision-making and outcomes. The information provided enables procurement and finance leaders to recognize opportunities for cost savings and to evaluate the financial stability of suppliers, customers or competitors.
• Interactive Supply Chain Analysis: Supply chain analysis is a crucial process for any procurement professional; and involves the examination of the entire supply chain, from raw materials to the delivery of finished products and services to customers. Capnote’s Value Chain tool displays the links between organizations, their key customers, subsidiaries and suppliers. Procurement professionals can use this to identify key industry suppliers, negotiate better contracts, and manage supplier or customer relationships. For example the below value chain allows professionals to track relationships and keep adding companies to the chain.

• Market Analysis: With Capnote’s Value Chain data automation, the gruelling process of gathering and deciphering information from various sources is made much easier. The platform streamlines the information and equips professionals to have a sound understanding of a desired market or industry to ensure that they are making purchasing decisions based on customer needs and market trends. This includes identifying new suppliers, understanding the competitive landscape, and identifying opportunities for innovation. In the future, there will be ESG information as well. Below is an example of the maps visualization on Capnote.

• Portfolio Concentrations: In a portfolio of companies, it is essential to understand the concentrations that exist to suppliers, customers, geographies, raw materials, or competitors. This can help with risk management processes and the identification of critical paths or nodes that can impact a large proportion of the portfolio. Capnote allows professionals to create portfolios and see the sensitivities in them. For example, when a portfolio of electric vehicle manufacturers including Tesla, Ford, BYD, Toyota and Mercedez Benz Group is created, below is a sample of the key suppliers in the portfolio.

• Dynamic Risk & Growth Factor Alerts: Through the Value Chain, procurement colleagues can identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them. The insights and real-time alerts aid the development of contingency plans, identifying alternative suppliers, and improving supply chain resilience.

By using Capnote for Value Chain Analysis, procurement and finance professionals can identify opportunities for improvement, negotiate better contracts, and manage supplier or customer relationships more effectively. This ultimately leads to increased profitability, improved risk management, customer satisfaction, and a stronger competitive position. Look out for a continuation of this series and more best practice on value chain analysis.

The post An Introduction To Value Chain Analysis For Risk & Opportunity Management first appeared on Capnote.

Finvar Corporation is a financial technology company that creates products and platforms focused on enhancing automation, productivity, education, monetization and access in finance and investing for the underserved mass market. It’s first product, Capnote, is an intelligence and productivity platform for financial professionals and organizations. Click here for more information. http://18.171.186.33/

OmegaPoint Partners , LLC is a private permission based blockchain technology company . Their subscription based Software as a Service offering has 15 different functional platforms that include the following social impact areas: data security; elder care; climate change; licensing and intellectual property; wire transfer security; homelessness; Ecommerce; healthcare; forced labor reduction and social networking. Click here for more information. https://omegapoint.io/

Jahani & Associates served as an advisor to Finvar Corporation.

The post Finvar and Omega Point Partners Agree Commercial and Technical Partnership first appeared on Capnote.

As financial professionals or investors, it is best practice to understand the geographic exposure in your portfolios. However, this can be a tedious exercise with constantly changing data. Save time when checking for geographic exposure by using Capnote. Search for a company, go to Geographies & Maps and then use the filters to select ‘Revenue’ or  ‘Subsidiaries’. You will then see a map and table with geographic revenue exposure as reported by the company.

Save time and increase your awareness so you aren’t caught out by surprise by geo-political risks. Try this for yourself by signing up to Capnote for free.

Written by Ikenna Ene

The post Save Time Checking The Geographic Exposure Of Companies Or Portfolios first appeared on Capnote.

The platform was envisioned by financial professionals with decades of experience across multiple continents. Throughout their careers, they came to realize the following:   

• There are significant untapped opportunities to save time and costs.
• There are significant untapped opportunities to generate income and deepen client engagement.
• The mass market is underserved by legacy tools, which have not evolved with the times.
• There are significant labor shortages of financial professionals with far-reaching consequences.
• Financial inclusion and education are more important than ever and require suitable technology.

Read more about these below.  

Significant Opportunities To Save Time & Cost.

Capnote leverages automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence to help individuals and organizations save time, improve decision-making and discover new opportunities. This directly leads to gains across the top and bottom lines. 

“Financial services companies could generate $140 Billion in productivity gains and savings by modernizing workforce technologies.” – Accenture

These estimates from Accenture are for organizations in North America. Click here to read the full article. In addition, this also points to a global productivity opportunity as the rest of the world could realize similar benefits. For example, below is another quote from a research report about financial services in Africa.

“A significant part of the banking value chain remains dependent on manual tasks, driving 60 to 70 percent of costs. Research suggests that there is more than 50 percent automation potential across selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) functions and 40 to 60 percent cost-savings potential from using automation in these functions.” – McKinsey

Capnote has been designed to be accessible and affordable to ensure more individuals and organizations can access technology that taps into these benefits and synergies.

Significant Opportunities To Generate Income & Deepen Client Engagement.

To discover and take advantage of accretive opportunities, financial professionals must actively keep track of large amounts of current and historical data such as financial statements, key dates, price cycles of commodities and others. However, individuals have limited bandwidth and cannot constantly process data quickly enough to generate an advantage. Capnote automates the tracking and processing of data for professionals as well as the generation of smart alerts or algorithm based notes. 

Furthermore, with changing client generations, the digitization of financial service experiences is becoming essential to driving client engagement and satisfaction. 

“About 70 percent of all bank interactions today are via mobile, with only about 20 percent of customers indicating that they prefer face-to-face contact for dialogue, social, or expertise reasons. Banks that are leading in this space are developing frequent customer engagement outside of traditional channels, providing customers with ease and convenience and taking advantage of AI for ultra-personalization—which is necessary to compete in cluttered markets—while reducing cost to serve.” – McKinsey

Capnote has been designed to be an intuitive and enjoyable digital experience that leverages interactive technologies for personalization and collaboration. Organizations can white label and customize Capnote to the needs of their clients and teams whilst maintaining full control. This would be much more cost effective that trying to build and maintain their own digital platform. Capnote has already been deployed on this basis for wealth management firms and banks.

The mass market is underserved by legacy options, which have not evolved with the times.

Information is absolutely essential for all financial professionals. It is impossible to make good decisions and enhance performance without access to broad, timely datasets.  However, the wealthiest have unlimited budgets for information and custom data technologies while the mass market is wholly underserved. This results in significant information asymmetry and differences in performance.  

Below are some of the reasons why legacy financial information platforms do not meet the needs of the entire market: 

• Prohibitively expensive with limited options for individuals and less wealthy organizations.

• Outdated user experience that is complicated, unintuitive and inflexible. Many professionals do not enjoy using legacy tools and do not learn from them.

• Lack of automation and productivity assistance as they do not help users actively process data and Legacy tools have typically just served as big data warehouses.

• Legacy tools do not actively help users earn income or rewards from their participation, expertise or data.

Capnote has been designed by financial professionals for the mass market. The platform provides modern cutting-edge solutions at prices that will not break the bank. For individuals, Capnote can even be accessed for free or on a premium basis. In addition, Capnote’s enterprise platform can be customized to better suit the workflow, standards and appetite of professionals and organizations.

Labor Shortages Of Financial Professionals With Far-Reaching Consequences.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified financial professionals to hire. According to the Association for Financial Professionals, nearly 60% of treasury and finance functions report that they are facing a talent shortage. This has significant implications for business growth and the job satisfaction of other team members. In a recent study, the Manpower group highlights the following implications of labor shortages in finance: 

• Increased expectations on remaining team members
• Risk of compliance issues
• Increased audit risk
• Inability to close the books
• Greater employee dissatisfaction and/or burnout
• Potential for higher turnover

In addition to the above, we also note, reduced sales momentum, slower management reporting & decision making and higher costs from wage inflation or employee turnover.  
Capnote’s use of cutting edge technologies such as automation and machine learning empowers financial professionals to achieve more with limited resources. The platform also empowers adjacent functions such as procurement or sales to better understand and utilize financial data for their own purposes.

Contact us at team@capnote.com. We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.

The post Why Capnote Was Created & Is Needed first appeared on Capnote.

So where should analysts and investors look for growth when crude oil prices are high? Below are a few typical bright spots worth looking into:

• Petroleum Suppliers & Service Companies: These companies are likely to see growth in revenue, backlog and profitability when oil prices are high and more upstream petroleum projects are undertaken. We used Capnote to generate a portfolio of the oil majors and clicked on sensitivities to see the below list of most common suppliers in our data. TechnipFMC stock has risen 158% over the last year. 

• Alternative Sources of Energy: When oil prices are high, consuming countries and companies become interested in securing cheaper or more easily available energy sources such as renewables, nuclear or even coal. Did you know coal prices rose sharply from $50 per ton in 2020 to over $400 per ton in 2022 in line with higher crude oil? However, note that this also coincided with the pandemic so its important to consider other market conditions as well.
• Petroleum Producing Companies & Countries: Last but not least, this may be the most obvious place to look for growth. Petroleum producing companies and countries directly benefit from the sale of crude oil. Below is a list of major producing countries from the Visual Capitalist. In the US, oil production typically comes from Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, and Colorado. Real estate in Texas appears to have benefitted from high oil prices as well as the net migration of workers. 

In addition to thinking about growth, it is also important to think about cyclicality and plan in advance for the retreat of oil prices. You can save time and increase your awareness of key trends by using Capnote’s Smart Alerts and upcoming Trend Impacts feature. Watch this space and sign-up for free (no credit card required).

The post Looking For Bright Spots When Oil Prices Are High first appeared on Capnote.

Using Capnote, we can easily look across the semiconductor value chain to find the most common suppliers and customers of the largest semiconductor companies. 

Methodology: To do this, we created a portfolio on Capnote and included the below list of large US semiconductor companies (data as of 4 Sept 2023). After building the portfolio, we clicked on Sensitivities and selected suppliers and customers from the drop down list.

Top Suppliers: The below extract from Capnote shows the 3 the most common suppliers to the largest US semiconductor companies.

• PDF solutions supplies big data analytics for semiconductor manufacturing and supplies 11 of the 15 largest semiconductor companies including names like Nvidia and Broadcom. Its stock is up +47% year on year.  With market cap of $1.4 billion, it appears to have room to grow.
• Amkor Technologies provides semiconductor packaging and test services to 8 out of the 15 semiconductor companies in our portfolio. Its stock is up +49% year on year. With market cap of $6.9 billion and dividend yield of 1%, it is worth researching further. 
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing provides contract manufacturing and design services to 7 out of 15 constituents of the portfolio. Its stock is up +16% year on year. With market cap of $445 billion, its the largest supplier on the list and also pays a 2% dividend. 

Top Customers: The below extract from Capnote shows the 3 most common customers of the largest US semiconductor companies. 

Notably, Apple, Samsung and Intel are amongst the largest electronics companies in the world with year on year stock growth of +22%, +23% and +21% respectively Their size and strong credit quality make them beneficial customers for any semiconductor firm to have. 

Try discovering industry value chain concentrations for yourself by signing up to Capnote for free and building a themed portfolio. 

Written by Ikenna Ene

The post Discover Concentrations In Industry Supply Chains: Semiconductors first appeared on Capnote.

3 reasons for this fall are below, which may reveal some of the changing dynamics in the diamond and jewelry market.

Lab-grown diamonds are becoming more popular: The process for making diamonds in a laboratory involves extreme pressure and heat, copying how natural diamonds are created. Lab-grown diamonds are almost identical to natural diamonds in look and properties. As such, they are regarded as a perfect substitute with the important advantage of also being much cheaper. For socially conscious consumers, lab-grown diamonds also don’t involve the mining of conflict diamonds. “The share of lab grown diamond sales versus natural diamonds is rising. In 2020, they were just 2.4%. In 2023 to date they are already up to 9.3%,” said Edahn Golan, the CEO of Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data. 

Ineffectual Sanctions: Russia is the world’s largest diamond producer. Below is a table from the Visual Capitalist highlighting the countries responsible for 99% of diamond production. In May, the G7 imposed sanctions on Russian diamonds, with the United Kingdom  sanctioning Russia’s state-owned company Alrosa. However, analysts do not expect this to impact sales significantly. In fact, according to market analyst Paul Zimnisky, “the Russians have ramped up diamond sales in recent months in an attempt to claw back market share lost last year following the disruption in trading.” Countries like India and the UAE do not have sanctions on rough diamond imports. India is the world’s top diamond importer, with the U.S. coming in second, followed by Hong Kong, Belgium and the UAE.

Shifts In Consumer Spending: The market for diamonds is regarded as mostly consumer-driven, with sales relying on retail customers and the impact of advertising. This year, consumers have chosen to spend more on experiences, travelling and food than jewelry. In addition, economic slowdowns have started to affect the sales of luxury goods. Sales during the upcoming winter and valentines day seasons will be key indicators as these seasons are considered peak for engagements and jewelry purchases. Analysts expect there will be a slight increase in sales but perhaps not to levels seen during the pandemic.

Use Capnote’s industries function to track year on year growth in the Jewelry  industries, find industry leaders and compare their operating or valuation metrics.

Written by Ikenna Ene

The post 3 Reasons For Falling Diamond Prices first appeared on Capnote.