What's going on?

Luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. showed that diamonds are still a girl�s best friend. Its quarterly results beat analyst estimates on Tuesday � and its shares shone bright like a diamond, rising by 3% (tweet this).

What does this mean?

Tiffany�s iconic turquoise boxes flew off the shelves, with sales rising 12% higher than a year ago and profit increasing by 26%. Sales in Asia grew by almost a third more than the same time last year, with local customers in greater China to thank for the sparkly uplift. ???

The company also increased its �gross margin� � the amount of profit it makes directly from selling products (i.e. including the cost of diamonds but not admin expenses) � from a year ago. A rising or falling gross margin could indicate that a brand�s able to raise its prices or under pressure to cut them. Tiffany has actually been selling cheaper items in order to appeal to younger, less ballin� customers, which could lead to a lower gross margin. But fewer wholesale diamond sales (to retailers who get a discount for buying in bulk, compared to an in-store customer) helped push it higher overall.

Why should I care?

For markets: Simply the best?

American electricals retailer Best Buy grew its quarterly sales and profit on Tuesday, beating forecasts. However, investors didn�t (best) buy its stock and it fell by 7%. Some investors balked at Best Buy’s slowing ecommerce sales growth compared to rivals Target and Walmart, whose online businesses are buzzing. While the company now expects to make more profit in 2018 as a whole (compared to its previous forecast), it predicts that profit for the next quarter will fall below investor expectations.

The bigger picture: Say no to Jeff.

Perhaps because some luxury brands have all but blacklisted Amazon, the ecommerce giant�s struggled to make headway at the high end of retail. The market for personal luxury goods was worth $307 billion in 2017 and is slated to hit $446 billion by 2025.