Uppsala University in Sweden says the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook 'drastically underplayed the scale of future oil shortages'.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has won Slovenia's approval for the South Stream pipeline, 'undermining European Union efforts to reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies'.  A deal was signed late on Saturday, marking the fifth and final signatory of 'all the European partners needed for this project to be completed'.  Gazprom could receive 'exclusive rights' as a supplier of liquefied natural gas to Singapore after the expiry of a current contract with British Gas.  RusAl is planning to sell a 10% stake to help repay its $14 billion debt, and may offer special ventures and access deals in a reported bid to help China take the lion's share.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country's nuclear rights are 'not ...

I have just arrived in Geneva after an exhausting but hugely successful few days in Ljubljana, quaint capital of Slovenia. It is rather difficult to write proper posts while on the road, but I will do my best to feed interesting snippets through - that is when not investigating how the gnomes see the future of Swiss banking.

Gold hit a new peak after a drop in the US dollar to a 15-month trough, resulting in the precious metal recording an eight-day winning streak. According to Bespoke, the current run represents the seventh time since 1980 that gold has had a streak of eight or more consecutive days with a gain. The report said: “As shown below, the only time one of these streaks went for more than eight days was back in 1982 when the ninth day was also positive (on the tenth day it fell 5.7%, or

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I am traveling in Europe - Switzerland and Slovenia - at the moment, exploring business opportunities and gathering a feel for the economic climate in Western and Central Europe. (I also have a more official relationship with Slovenia as I represent this picture-pretty country diplomatically in South Africa - as Honorary Consul. Click here for the Consulate website and some amazing photographs.)

The downside is that blog posting will be slow (and totally absent on some days) for most of the time while I am on the road. The normal blogging service will be resumed on my return to Cape Town on October 16.

However, I will be “tweeting” regularly throughout my trip, posting short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical market issues, and also on my personal whereabouts. You can “follow me” on Twitter by clicking here. You may also consider joining me

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I have just returned from a very successful visit to Slovenia - a country of only about 20 273 km² and 2 million people located in the heart of central Europe. I will share some thoughts about this hidden “jewel” of Europe in a few days’ time, but suffice to say for the moment that this was one of my most successful overseas trips ever.

My normal Sunday “Words from the Wise” review will be back next week, but in the meantime I have put together a few posts I thought may be of interest to readers.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, click here to subscribe to updates to Investment Postcards from Cape Town by e-mail.

I am traveling in Slovenia at the moment, leading a group of South African business people on a fact-finding mission of this jewel of central Europe. The visit has so far exceeded all our expectations, but more about that at a later stage.

Blog posting will be absent for most of the time while I am on the road and “Words from the Wise” will also take a break next Sunday (September 13). The normal blogging service will be resumed on my return to Cape Town on September 14.

However, I will be “tweeting” regularly throughout my trip. A Twitter feed has been added to the sidebar of Investment Postcards where I post short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical market issues, and also on my personal whereabouts. You can also “follow me” direct on Twitter by clicking here

Did you enjoy

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I am traveling in Slovenia at the moment, leading a group of South African business people on a fact-finding mission of this jewel of central Europe.

Blog posting will be absent for most of the time while I am on the road and “Words from the Wise” will take a break for the next two Sundays (September 6 and 13). The normal blogging service will be resumed on my return to Cape Town on September 14.

However, I will be “tweeting” regularly throughout my trip. A Twitter feed has been added to the sidebar of Investment Postcards where I post short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical market issues, and also on my personal whereabouts. You can also “follow me” direct on Twitter by clicking here

Did you enjoy this post? If so, click here to subscribe to updates to Investment Postcards

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This short update comes to you from Cape Town airport where I am awaiting my flight to Johannesburg, and then to Frankfurt and finally Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia) where I will be spending the next few days with a group of South African business people.

I often argued the bull case for gold over the past few months. With gold having surged by $40 an ounce (+4.1%) to $994 this week, it would certainly seem as if renewed interest in the yellow metal is being stirred up.

As printing presses are running at full speed to produce ever-increasing quantities of fiat money as governments engineer the greatest asset price reflation in human history - and the US greenback is heading South - the longer-term fundamental case for the yellow metal is arguably positive.

The shorter-term technical picture is also starting to look interesting. This is explained by Adam Hewison

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I will be traveling to Slovenia tomorrow as I am taking a group of South African business people on a fact-finding mission to this jewel of central Europe.

Blog posting will be absent for most of the time while I am on the road and “Words from the Wise” will take a break for the next two Sundays (September 6 and 13). The normal blogging service will be resumed on my return to Cape Town on September 14.

However, I will be “tweeting” regularly throughout my trip. A Twitter feed has been added to the sidebar of Investment Postcards where I post short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical market issues, and also on my personal whereabouts. You can also “follow me” direct on Twitter by clicking here

Did you enjoy this post? If so, click here to subscribe to updates to

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I have just been interviewed by a South African financial magazine, FinWeek. The result is published below and tells you a bit more about the person behind the Investment Postcards blog.

Veteran investment professional - and chairman of the Plexus group of companies - Prieur du Plessis could be considered a workaholic. He’s probably not, making time for other activities. But that’s the impression you get. For example, he has no problem agreeing to a 7am interview. “I’m an early riser. It’s already late in the day for me,” he quips as he shrugs off the apology for the early morning call.

Du Plessis is well known in the industry through prolific writing on investment matters

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I will be in Slovenia next week as I am taking a group of South African business people on a fact-finding mission to this uber-beautiful country. I am leading the delegation in my capacity as Honorary Consul of Slovenia for South Africa. (Click here for the Consulate’s website, including photographs of some of the most beautiful spots in the world.)

If you happen to be in Ljubljana on Monday, September 7, let’s get together at a special day the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and JAPTI have organized to facilitate interaction between our delegation and Slovenian business people. Numbers are filling up quickly, so please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us. You can reach me via the “Contact” button in the top-right hand corner of the Investment Postcards site.

Blog posting will be slow (and totally absent

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