To begin with let's look at a few facts about platinum.

• The annual supply of platinum is only about 130 tons.
• It takes 10 tons of ore to produce one ounce of pure platinum.
• All of the platinum ever mined throughout history would fill less than 25 cubic feet.
• Platinum is 11% denser than gold and weighs more than gold. One cubic foot weighs 1,330 pounds.
• Relative to gold and silver, platinum has many more industrial uses.
• More than 50% of platinum is destroyed through industrial use.
• Unlike gold, there are no large above ground inventories of platinum.
• South Africa produces 80% of the world's platinum.

Since its recent low, platinum has had a good run rising from $761.50 on October 27, 2008, to Thursday's close of $1,062.00 per ounce. Like gold, platinum buyers are looking for a safe haven investment. Very often platinum follows gold for this reason.

Carlton Delfeld reveals his latest global ETF picks and warns of leveraged funds.

Q. Carlton, in your last newsletter, you commented on the low valuations of several global markets, including Ireland, Singapore, UK, and Sweden, among others. Have you since added any ETFs from these regions to your portfolios?

A. Yes, I have added iShares MSCI South Africa Index (NYSEArca: EZA), iShares MSCI Singapore Index (NYSEArca: EWS), and the iShares MSCI United Kingdom (NYSEArca: EWU). South Africa is in part a currency and commodity play. The United Kingdom is very much predicated on global financial recovery, and Singapore will likely be a core holding.

Q. Each of these regions seems to have its own stress points right now. Do you think that South Africa is particularly vulnerable to a global slowdown? Hasn't Singapore been hit hard by the bear market in China? And isn't the UK just moving into a housing decline that may rival that of the US?

A. South Africa, China and the UK are all trading at attractive valuations. They all have challenges. The South Africa Rand has been a strong currency and will come back with higher gold prices, the UK is already moving through the housing issue and its financial-oriented market has already been hammered. Lastly, Singapore is a very high-quality China play.

Anglogold (NYSE: AU) is recently trading at $40.90 in pre-open trading, below its close of $45.17 Thursday.

AU said it has halted mining and gold recovery operations on all of its South African operations following notification from state-owned electricity company Eskom regarding interruptions to power supplies.

Gold is recently up 1.82% to $922.30 according to Bloomberg.

AU overall option implied volatility of 50 is above its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

In a world that's dependent on natural gas and eager for efficient ways to ship it, a company like South African-based Sasol Ltd (NYSE: SSL) will always be in demand. As a leader in the field of converting gas to diesel liquid (it also excels at converting coal to liquid), Sasol should always be a solid pick at the right price, especially since the company balances its risk in the cyclical energy markets with its chemical division, which produces a wide range of chemicals for industrial processes.

There are risks for a company like SSL beyond the cyclical nature of the energy markets. The company also faces competition from the growing popularity of liquefied natural gas. It can also suffer from unanticipated work stoppages, as happened for 40 days at one of its plants in the first half of 2007, forcing SSL to purchase synthetic fuels from third parties to fulfill its contracts, which cut into margins. If there are worldwide slowdowns in construction and other industries, there may be a slackening demand for both of SSL's divisions.

But I think SSL's integrated and diversified structure will protect it against any serious downside, and I'm impressed with a recent Bear Stearns report that predicted SSL will have a strong second half of 2007, driven mostly by improving sales in its chemical division, along with stronger margins created by recent technological developments that increase efficiency and should lower raw-material costs. The analyst predicted the fuels division would stay flat, but that this would be offset by the chemicals division. SSL will also benefit from a law passed in early August in South Africa that will protect SSL and other energy companies from any windfall taxes.

The Bear Stearns report predicted this stock to hit $50 in 2008; that's a gain of 25%, which may be ambitious, but I agree this company has room to grow, and the 2% dividend doesn't hurt either.

Type of Stock: A South African company specializing in fuel and chemical technologies.

Price Target: If the Bear Stearns report is correct, this stock is a solid buy at its current price near $40. But this stock can be volatile, and you might want to wait and see if you can grab it around $38 or even lower.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com.

In yet another case of product contamination, Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) has discovered counterfeit packages of its Colgate-brand toothpaste on the shelves of discount stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

A statement noted that, "There are indications that this product does not contain fluoride and may contain [poisonous chemical] diethylene glycol." So . . . it won't clean your teeth, but it might make you sick or worse. Lose-lose.

Diethylene Glycol, used as a solvent and in antifreeze, has been "improperly used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin and propylene glycol in pharmaceutical preparations," according to a June 8 statement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Certain toothpastes imported from China in recent weeks have been found to contain the potentially deadly substitute ingredient; the FDA is advising consumers to discard any toothpaste labeled as made in China.

Fortunately, there is clue for any concerned residents of the targeted states. The impostor Colgate tubes are labeled "Manufactured in South Africa" -- but CL does not import toothpaste into the U.S. Proving that criminals aren't always masterminds, the fake tubes have also been found to contain misspellings, such as the "South African Dental Assoxiation" or "SOUTH AFRLCA."

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

In unrelenting pursuit of double digit EPS growth for fiscal year 2007, it was announced Friday March 23, that Luxottica Group (NYSE:LUX) had acquired two South African eye wear chains. The reported total expenditure for the dual purchases was $13.4 million. Luxottica says the acquisition fits snugly into the company's strategy of maintaining market dominance, increasing cash flow generation and staying ahead of the eye wear industry growth curve.

Andrea Guerra, Luxottica Group's chief executive officer said that nearly two thirds of the world's population is just beginning to explore the fashion eye wear market. The drivers in the market can be divided into: 1) People attempting to express individuality through choices made in fashion eye wear has never been stronger. 2) As people in emerging economies come to realize the simplicity of vision enhancement through eye wear, they are also coming to grasp the realities of personal expression that fashion eye wear choices can make. 3) As baby-boomers age, there is an ever increasing pool of new clients who are visiting fashion eye wear stores for the very first time.