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Your evening read on the luxury and collectibles markets, by the numbers. Tonight: a transatlantic split — European luxury rose while every US-listed luxury name fell, and the Dow set a record even as the S&P 500 slipped. Underneath it, the same hard-asset story: gold at another high, and a watch-auction market that keeps setting records even as the listed watchmakers stall.
(Prices: Yahoo Finance v8, all closes final after the 4 PM ET bell, June 16; prior = June 15 close.)
Good evening. It's Tuesday, June 16. I'm Sharon, and this is Closing Price from ALT/FNDATA.
Tonight, a split market. European luxury stocks climbed, but every one of their US-listed peers finished lower, and the Dow set another record even as the S&P 500 slipped. Underneath it all is the same hard-asset story we keep coming back to: gold pushed to another high, and the auction market for watches is still setting records, even as the companies that make them tread water.
Start in Europe, where the luxury names extended their recovery. In Paris, Hermès, ticker RMS, led the group, closing up about 2.2 percent, with LVMH, ticker MC, up about 1.5 percent, and Kering, the owner of Gucci, ticker KER, up about 1 percent. In Zurich, Richemont, ticker CFR, gained about 1 percent. The one exception was Swatch, ticker UHR, down about 1.2 percent.
Across the Atlantic, it was the opposite picture. Every US-listed luxury name we track finished in the red. Zegna, ticker ZGN, was the weakest, down about 1.9 percent. Capri Holdings, the parent of Versace, ticker CPRI, and Ralph Lauren, ticker RL, each fell about 1.4 percent. Tapestry, the owner of Coach, ticker TPR, dropped about 1.1 percent, and Ferrari, ticker RACE, slipped about 0.8 percent, even after Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its confidence in the stock. The simplest read is this: European luxury is still riding the relief from Monday's US-Iran deal, while the US names drifted lower with a softer American session, as technology stocks pulled the broader market down and investors turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve.
And here is the contrast that really tells the story. The watchmaker Movado, ticker MOV, finished roughly flat today, and watch stocks in general have gone nowhere lately. But the auction market for watches has rarely been hotter. Over the past 90 days, the single most expensive watch sold in the ALT/FNDATA database was an F.P. Journe platinum tourbillon, which went for 3.1 million dollars at Christie's. It is the same gap we flagged last night. The boom is in the resale market, the saleroom, not necessarily in the companies making and selling new watches. If you want exposure to the watch market right now, our data says the action is in the vintage and collectible pieces, not always the stocks.
That points to the bigger theme, which is hard assets. Gold closed at another high today, up about 0.6 percent at around 4,353 dollars an ounce. It has now set records on back-to-back days. The push is coming from the other side of the deal that lifted stocks. With the US and Iran moving to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, oil fell again, down about 6 percent to around 76 dollars a barrel, a fresh three-month low. Lower oil, a softer dollar, and steady demand for a safe store of value are all working in gold's favor. It is the same instinct showing up in the saleroom: when the world feels uncertain, money moves into things you can hold.
One corporate mover to flag. Frasers Group, the retailer run by Mike Ashley, fell about 4.4 percent in London, to 720 pence. Frasers has had a busy week. After bidding to take over Hugo Boss, it has now made a second offer, this time for the Australian footwear business Accent Group. Investors are clearly wary of the back-to-back dealmaking. Hugo Boss itself closed roughly flat.
On the broader market, it was a tale of two indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up about 0.6 percent to a record, near 52,000, but the S&P 500 slipped about 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq also fell, as the technology stocks that have led the rally took a breather. The newly listed SpaceX was the exception, soaring for a third straight session and now closing in on Amazon in total market value. The dollar eased, and oil hit that three-month low. The caution has a clear source: later this week the Federal Reserve delivers its first interest-rate decision under its new chair, Kevin Warsh, and investors are reluctant to make big bets before they hear from him.
Across our board, European luxury closed higher while every US name fell, gold set another record, and the Dow hit a new high even as the S&P slipped.
Looking ahead, Sotheby's Important Watches caps a remarkable run of watch sales this week, and the RM Sotheby's Sealed auction, featuring a 1969 Lamborghini Miura, closes tomorrow, June 17.
That's it on Closing Price for today, Tuesday, June 16. Open Bid returns tomorrow morning at 6 AM Eastern, and our weekly Luxury Spending show also publishes tomorrow.
For more insights on the top stories in today's Closing Price, check out the ALT/FNDATA market index and datasets, which cover the secondary-market signals behind the luxury names we follow. You can start for free in our data sandbox. To get started, reach us on our website, or by email at info@altfndata.com.
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I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.
