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Your morning briefing on the luxury and collectibles markets. Today: the week ends with a rising dollar and gold heading for its worst week; Swiss watch exports stall even as the auction market booms; Art Basel wraps; the Obama Presidential Center opens; and the Milan menswear shows begin.
Good morning. It's Friday, June 19. I'm Sharon, and this is Open Bid from ALT/FNDATA.
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Today: gold heads for its worst week as the dollar climbs, Swiss watch exports stall even as the auction market booms, Art Basel wraps up a strong run, and the Obama Presidential Center opens its doors.
We begin with the markets, where the week is ending on a clear theme: a rising dollar and a falling gold price. After the Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday that it intends to keep interest rates higher for longer, the dollar has climbed and gold has dropped sharply. Gold is now heading for its worst week in months, trading around 4,166 dollars an ounce this morning, down from a record just on Monday. Goldman Sachs cut its forecast for the metal, pointing to a reduced chance of interest-rate cuts this year. Stocks have held up better: US markets rebounded yesterday, led by technology, with the Nasdaq up about 1.9 percent. And this morning in Europe, the luxury names opened mixed and little changed, with LVMH and Burberry slightly higher and Kering slightly lower. There was one brighter note on the economy. In the UK, shoppers spent more than expected in May, and earlier months turned out stronger than first reported, a sign that British consumers are holding up better than feared. That is good news for the luxury brands that do big business in London.
Now to the watch world, where two very different stories are unfolding. On one side is the market for new watches. Swiss watch exports, essentially the value of new watches the brands ship abroad, barely grew in May. That came after two straight months of decline. A big reason is the Middle East, a major market for luxury watches, where the regional conflict has cut into demand. On the other side is the secondary market, the world of auctions, where pre-owned and vintage watches change hands, and there the story is the opposite. Just last week, Phillips held the highest-grossing watch auction in US history. Its New York sale totaled 75.8 million dollars, with a 100 percent sell-through, meaning every single lot found a buyer. The standout was a Swiss-made F.P. Journe, which sold for 13.9 million dollars, a world record for a watch by an independent watchmaker. So while the brands are shipping fewer new watches abroad, collectors are paying record sums for the rarest pieces at auction, and every one of those results is captured in the ALT/FNDATA database.
Art Basel is winding down after a strong week. One bright spot was the fair's new Basel Exclusive section, where early sales included major names like Picasso and Philip Guston, an encouraging sign that the big-ticket end of the market is finding buyers. And in a first for the fair, the Paula Cooper Gallery of New York won the inaugural Art Basel Gallery Legacy Award, recognizing a half-century of championing important artists.
In Chicago, the Obama Presidential Center has opened its doors. The sprawling campus on the city's south side includes a museum and a striking collection of new commissions from leading American artists, among them Mark Bradford, Maya Lin, Richard Hunt, and Martin Puryear. It has been described as an art-filled and hopeful telling of US history, and it instantly becomes one of the most significant new cultural destinations in the country.
To fashion, where the men's shows have begun. Milan Men's Fashion Week is under way, alongside the Pitti Uomo trade fair in Florence, kicking off the spring 2027 menswear season. The mood among executives is cautious, with brand relevance and market volatility front of mind in a menswear market that has become harder to read. One debut to watch: the Italian house Canali will unveil the first collection from its new creative director, Alessio Lillocci, who previously designed at Prada and Brunello Cucinelli, on Sunday.
A couple more to note. Prada is planning an unusual new store in Milan, a multifloor concept with an underground passage beneath the city's grand Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade, opening in September. And for the car collectors, Porsche has revealed a limited edition of its 911 GT3, called the Earls Court 51, a tribute to the company's first car sold in Britain. Only 51 will be built.
Looking ahead, Art Basel closes this weekend, and the Milan and Pitti menswear shows run through the next few days.
That's it on Open Bid for today, Friday, June 19. Closing Price follows this evening at 5 PM Eastern.
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I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. I'll talk with you in the next episode.
