Armonk, NY–Jewelry will be one of the brightest categories for U.S. retailers this holiday season, according to new forecasts based on analysis by IBM. Jewelry sales will reach $ 2.6 billion in November, up 7.7% over the last year, IBM reported, and $ 5.4 billion in December, up 4% over last year.
Estimates produced by the IBM retail analytics leader Dr. Michael Haydock, who noted that the 2011 U.S. jewelry sales are highly correlated to CBOE volatility index (VIX), also called
Improvement of the VIX has been accompanied by an increase in sales jewerly two months later. The relationship is somewhat counterintuitive as one usually expects a stable stock market to increase fear and dampen demand for luxury goods.