The world’s biggest jewelry brand by volume is leaning away from its once-signature sterling silver for shiny new platinum-plated pieces as precious metal prices go haywire, turning what used to be “affordable sparkle” into a profit-margin nightmare.

Translation: silver got too expensive, and Pandora isn’t about to let wild metal markets mess with its charm bracelet empire.

But according to jewelers, it’s also a smart emotional play — because most shoppers aren’t exactly metal purists.

Starting later this year, the Danish jewelry giant will roll out platinum-plated versions of its best-selling charm bracelets — the same ones millions of shoppers stack, gift and collect — keeping price tags roughly the same while quietly swapping what’s underneath the shine.

It’s a bold pivot for a brand that built its global following on silver.

Vivian Grimes, founder of fine jewelry brand Henri Noël, said the material itself often matters far less than the memories attached to it.

“It’s a strong play for Pandora so the company can keep prices comparable to their current sterling silver line,” Grimes told The Post.

Jewelry giant Pandora is rolling out platinum-plated versions of its beloved charm bracelets later this year — keeping prices steady while quietly swapping what’s under the shine in a bold brand pivot. NurPhoto via Getty Images

“I do not think the customer cares so much what the metal is being used when purchasing Pandora, but about the emotional attachment they feel to the charms,” she added.

But lately, silver’s been acting more like gold’s dramatic cousin.

Over the past year alone, silver prices have more than doubled — spiking as investors piled into precious metals like they were the new crypto boom.

Gold soared, too, but silver stole the spotlight with roller-coaster swings that left jewelry makers sweating.

Grimes said the surge isn’t just about fashion — it’s being fueled by industry demand far beyond jewelry cases.

She noted that silver’s “heavy use in green energy” — from solar to industrial demand — has helped drive the spike, while platinum faces less outside pressure.

Pandora, which buys hundreds of tons of silver each year, felt the squeeze fast. The metal makes up nearly a third of its production costs — meaning every spike hits the company straight in the sparkle.

Enter platinum.

While usually considered a luxury metal, platinum prices have been far calmer, creeping up only slightly compared to silver’s wild ride.

And for Pandora, the plating strategy keeps pieces shiny, durable and budget-friendly.

Shoppers may be loyal to the memories behind their charms, but silver itself has turned into a drama queen — more than doubling in price as green energy demand and investor frenzy sent metals soaring. yMediaStock – stock.adobe.com

But not everyone in the jewelry world is fully sold on plated sparkle as a long-term fix.

Fine jewelry designer Vickie Riggs warned that while platinum plating may keep prices down, it doesn’t always keep quality up.

Riggs said plated pieces typically appeal to shoppers who aren’t expecting heirloom longevity.

“Plated jewelry always deals with the issue of the plating wearing off, and the piece becoming less attractive when that happens over time,” she told The Post.

Still, Riggs said the soaring metal market is forcing shoppers — and brands — to get creative.

She noted that silver has climbed “roughly 270% over the past two years, compared to platinum’s approximately 140% rise” — and said predicting where prices head next is nearly impossible given the “complexity of global forces influencing metals.”

Across the industry, jewelers say cost pressures are reshaping how collections are designed from the ground up.

Alexandra Samit, founder of NYC’s Alexandra Beth Fine Jewelry, said rising prices are already squeezing margins and changing production decisions.

Samit said her team has absorbed “higher production costs on in-stock pieces” — tightening margins — while adjusting custom project pricing to reflect “increased material expenses and preserve craftsmanship standards.”

And rather than ditch precious metals altogether, many brands are simply using them smarter.

With silver now eating up a huge chunk of production costs, Pandora is turning to steadier platinum plating to keep its sparkle strong without blowing up prices. Bloomberg via Getty Images

She added that designers are “reducing overall gold weight through semi-hollow and hollow chain designs” and “increasing stone-to-metal ratios” — pairing larger lab-grown diamonds or colored stones with lighter gold settings instead of heavy silhouettes.

For shoppers, that means jewelry is quietly getting lighter — but not necessarily cheaper.

And while some customers flinch at rising prices, others are leaning in harder, treating fine jewelry less like an accessory and more like an asset.

Angara CEO Ankur Daga said he’s seeing a split mindset emerge. He said the shift goes beyond simple price sensitivity.

“As gold continues to rise in value, some consumers are actually leaning in, viewing fine jewelry not just as adornment, but as a tangible asset that holds long-term worth,” he told The Post.

That mindset is also pushing designers toward mixed metals and smarter builds instead of relying on one volatile material.

Daga said brands are engineering pieces that use less metal but larger diamonds or gemstones to “maintain visual impact” while managing rising costs.

As big brands like Pandora rethink their core collections, many jewelers believe this could permanently change what fills jewelry cases.

Samit predicts silver-heavy lines may slowly fade out, declaring that prolonged volatility could push brands toward higher-margin gold pieces, curated investment-style collections, or made-to-order models less vulnerable to raw material swings.

And Grimes agrees that volatility is forcing a long-term rethink across the industry.

Grimes added that if silver remains unstable, brands will continue exploring alternative production methods to keep price points steady — though if the metal stabilizes, higher prices may simply become the new normal.

While silver may be sparkling like a stock market darling right now, for jewelry brands trying to stay affordable, it’s become a very expensive relationship.

For now, Pandora is betting that platinum’s steadier shine will keep customers stacking charms — without shocking their wallets.

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The home-sharing giant wants the City Council to change a 2023 law that effectively shut down most Airbnb listings in the city.

Under the proposed legislation, owners of single-family homes would be allowed to offer rentals without the hosts being present for less than 30 days. The city’s limit on guests would also be lifted, from two to four.

Airbnb is hoping the NYC City Council amends restrictive legislation on how it does business in the city. Shutterstock

The new legislation targets Local Law 18, a two year-old bill that has decimated Airbnb and the rest of the short-term rental market in New York City. 

After faltering earlier this year, the latest bill was quietly amended last week to also undo the existing law’s “unlocked doors provision,” which requires hosts to keep all doors accessible to guests.

The proposed legislation stands to affect homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens the most. Airbnb hosts in those boroughs have said they are financially squeezed by not being able to rent to families and guests who don’t want to share their vacation with a host.

A draft bill loosening the Airbnb restrictions was scrapped in February amid strong opposition from the hotel industry and other groups.

The same sectors are crying foul again – even as hotel rates in the city have steadily climbed since Local Law 18 was enacted.

Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. James Messerschmidt

Dem City Council member Mercedes Narcisse. Stefano Giovannini

The new legislation comes “as Airbnb tries to salvage their multi-million dollar campaign to undermine our housing laws before New Yorkers and a new pro-tenant mayor can stop them,” read a statement from Tenants Not Tourists, a coalition of housing advocates that is supported by the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council union.

Opponents of the latest bill say Airbnb will later try to go further and free up all hosts — including apartments in Manhattan that have largely disappeared from Airbnb’s platforms.

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Airbnb has spent millions on a political action committee supporting City Council members who have been willing to revisit some of the most stringent requirements of Local Law 18. Those include the sponsor of the new bill, Brooklyn Dem Mercedes Narcisse.

Neither Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani nor independent Andrew Cuomo, who’s been catching up to the lefty in the polls, has publicly commented on the proposed change to the city’s Airbnb law.

However, Mamdani, who’s made housing affordability the centerpiece of his campaign, is widely expected to oppose loosening the restrictions.

A Mamdani spokesperson did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has been one of the biggest donors to an Andrew Cuomo Super Pac for mayor. REUTERS

Cuomo’s supporters see him as being amenable to changing the law’s tight grip on the home sharing industry in New York, sources said, pointing to the fact deep-pocketed Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is one of the largest single donors to a pro-Cuomo super PAC.

A spokesperson for the ex-governor did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Airbnb has slammed the city’s current law as failing “to deliver on its promise to improve housing affordability.”

Airbnb has supported Andrew Cuomo’s race for mayor of of New York City. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post

“Homeowners are struggling even as short-term rentals have all but disappeared,” Michael Blaustein, the company’s Northeast Atlantic policy lead, said in a statement.

Airbnb believes the new bill will get a vote before the end of the year, according to a source close to the company.

The next step is a Council Housing Committee hearing scheduled for Nov. 13. 

The current rules require hosts to register with the city and certify that their homes meet rigorous building, zoning and other codes — or face fines of up to $5,000.

In June, the city sent warning letters to 500 of the 3,000 registered short-term rental hosts here, while another five were threatened with having their licenses revoked, according to Office of Special Enforcement, which regulates the home sharing industry in the city.

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PAGCOR’s (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) Tengco spoke at the Light & Wonder iGaming Symposium at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City on Monday (September 8), arguing that regulations will have a more optimal effect on online gambling than a straightforward ban. He claimed that simple prohibition would only drive operations underground and onto the illegal market, removing a much-needed source of tax revenue.

In particular, Tengco advocated for reforms put together and implemented by PAGCOR, which include reducing license fee rates among other policies. This has led to consistent growth in the e-gaming sector, rising by 100 billion Php ($1.8 billion). That accounts for nearly half of the industry’s total revenue.

“The iGaming story in the Philippines is no longer just about growth,” Tengco said. “It’s about how we grow: safely, fairly, and sustainably. We support stricter regulations to protect our people, but we are against a total ban, which will only drive players to illegal operators and result in loss of revenues and jobs.”

The practicalities of PAGCOR’s online gambling reforms

Other reforms put into action by PAGCOR include separating regulatory and operational functions, implementing stronger responsible gaming safeguards, advocating for stricter advertising standards, the upcoming launch of a 24/7 helpline for those most vulnerable, and the adoption of digital tools such as the PAGCOR Guarantee portal and AI-driven monitoring systems.

Speaking to various industry stakeholders, Tengco highlighted the importance of what he described as “compliance by design” in the sector’s operations. Companies must follow anti-money laundering regulations, strengthen their KYC (Know Your Customer) guidelines, and fully support PAGCOR’s Responsible Gaming initiatives.

“With responsible growth, compliance, and transparency, the Philippines can develop a safer, stronger, and globally competitive iGaming industry,” he added.

Featured image: PAGCOR

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Federal Reserve officials wrapped up their final meeting of 2024 with splits surfacing over how many more interest rate cuts they should make given strong economic growth, lingering inflation and huge uncertainty ahead of Donald J. Trump’s return to the White House.

Weeks later, they unanimously pressed pause on rate cuts and now appear unified in their view that the central bank should tread carefully and take its time to see how the economy is evolving under a new administration.

Mary C. Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, reaffirmed that approach in an interview on Monday, saying the central bank does not “need to be pre-emptive at this point.”

“We have policy calibrated for this economy and the one we expect to have, and we’ve got time now to be actively watching to see what else is done,” she said.

The merits of that strategy were on full display on Monday after Canada and Mexico, two of America’s top trading partners, narrowly avoided steep tariffs in an 11th-hour deal with President Trump.

The prospects of another trade war — combined with large-scale deportations, reduced regulation and lower taxes — have upended economists’ expectations. They have also muddied expectations about how much more the Fed can lower rates after reducing them by a full percentage point last year. Ms. Daly said she was focused on the “net effect” of Mr. Trump’s policies, rather than assessing each one individually.

“If a policy change is going to spur growth, which ultimately pushes down inflation, at the same time that there’s something that picks it up a little bit, then you don’t know what the net effect is going to be until you have more details about the policy,” she said.

“Until we know more about scope, magnitude and timing and how those features move through the economy, then we’re really doing nothing more than speculating,” Ms. Daly added. “The easiest way for a policy mistake is to speculate.”

Ms. Daly said she was still “comfortable” with Fed officials’ projections published in December, which indicated broad support for half a percentage point in cuts this year. That would bring interest rates down to a range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent.

“I think we have to have a very open mind about whether fewer or more will be needed,” she said, referring to the number of cuts.

The range of outcomes underscores how high inflation has complicated the Fed’s job and cast uncertainty about whether its old playbooks, like those related to trade tensions, still apply.

The last time the Fed confronted a trade war that was led by Mr. Trump, it took early action to prevent the economy from weakening too much. The Fed lowered interest rates three times over consecutive meetings in the summer and fall of 2019, action that was later billed as taking out “insurance” against the economic impact of his trade war.

“The world is different right now,” Ms. Daly said. “History is a data point, but it’s not a playbook.”

At the time of Mr. Trump’s first trade war, inflation was consistently below the Fed’s 2 percent goal and global economic growth forecasts had turned downbeat. Companies across the country were also beginning to retrench, as uncertainty chilled business activity.

The biggest contrast today is that inflation is still above 2 percent. That is a problem because consumers and businesses are likely to be more sensitive to anything that may risk resurgent prices. The Fed may be compelled to act if there are signs that expectations of inflation are getting unmoored — something that Ms. Daly said was “critical” to take into account.

“The thing that’s reassuring is that longer-run inflation expectations, which is really what we keep our mind on, haven’t really moved at all,” she said.

Giving the Fed further leeway to stand pat is a labor market with “no sign” of weakness, Ms. Daly said. “The economy is in a very good place,” she added.

The Fed will monitor the January jobs report, released on Friday, for any evidence that this is changing. Economists expect slower growth than the 256,000 positions added in December, in part reflecting annual revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that incorporate new data.

“There’s not pessimism among businesses,” Ms. Daly said. “In fact, if anything, they’re more optimistic now than they were in the latter half year.”

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