Polished diamond discounts reach 50% as rough lab-grown prices tick up

The squeeze is landing on jewelers' margins rather than on stone values: deep discounting spans both natural and lab-grown, so the promotional pressure looks structural, not a lab-grown problem alone. Any uptick in rough lab-grown prices is a weak signal, since opaque rough pricing and dominant cutting and setting costs mean it barely reaches the retail tag. The open question is whether discounting persists once gold's pullback settles, and whether rough pricing gains survive without a clearer benchmark.