Things were bad enough that there was a press release last night from outside of the company… “Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Announces Investigation On Behalf of Shareholders of Fuqi International, Inc.”  That is generally a prelude to a class action suit, and if what we have seen recently holds up there won’t be just one of those announcements.

Fuqi is not the only jewelry player, and is certainly not the only with recent moves. .  This just happens to come on the same day that Movado Group Inc. (NYSE: MOV) fell 19% to $11.42 on a very weak outlook.

It may be unfair to tie one Asian jeweler to another, but shares of LJ International Inc. (NASDAQ: JADE) were off by about 2.5% at $2.75 in the after-hours session.  LJ or “Jade” as traders call it, is far smaller with a $67 million marker cap, a smaller daily volume and a 52-week range of $0.48 to $3.98.  Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) is still recovering, but its stock was up 16.5% at $3.46 yesterday.

Fuqi is called by a different acronym than its name or ticker by many traders, and that is being demonstrated this morning.  Mr. Dumas heads to Shenzen.  So far in the early hours we have seen shares trading under $13.50 after a $19.00 close on Tuesday.

JON C. OGG