Like twinkling diamonds, recent figures from luxury goods groups have provided little points of light in the growing markets gloom. Tiffany kicked things off last month with a raised earnings forecast and holiday sales up 17 per cent year on year. Richemont, Burberry, Swatch and – late last week – Hermès and LVMH all followed with sales ahead of expectations in the final quarter of 2009 and moderately optimistic outlooks. The figures from Richemont and Swatch's upmarket brands suggested the recession is over even for bigger-ticket items such as luxury watches.
就像闪闪发光的钻石一样，奢侈品集团最近发布的数据为日渐低迷的市场提供了一些亮点。蒂凡尼(Tiffany)上月率先登场，宣布假日销售同比增长17%，并提高了收益预期。历峰(Richemont)、巴宝莉(Burberry)、斯沃琪(Swatch)、爱马仕(Hermès)和路易威登轩尼诗(LVMH)紧随其后，纷纷表示2009年末季度销售好于预期，前景适度乐观。历峰和斯沃琪的高档品牌数据表明，即便是对于奢华手表之类较昂贵的商品，衰退也已结束。