Many successful careers in institutional investing are forged early from a high degree of passion, curiosity, and discipline in the space. These traits accelerate your learning curve and help you build a network that keeps you competitive over the long term. For those investors specializing in emerging markets, you add a focus on politics and whether leaders in those markets can actually implement the policies underpinning your investment thesis. In this sector, favorable economics won’t always save the day if the politics turn south.

In our first episode of the 2026 season, the Thematic Investors podcast welcomes Rob Citrone, Founder and Portfolio Manager, Discovery Capital Management, LLC, to discuss his 35 years in investing and how he continues to achieve a front row seat to emerging market trends. Key points in the podcast include:

How important is a network of senior officials inside each emerging country to help further diagnose investment opportunities?
How a morning golf game can change your perspective on technology investing and AI.
Why do some cycles for emerging market investments (like Argentina) act like ‘movie remakes’, but during the remake allow for more proactive investments into better ‘actors’, ‘camera angles’, and more?
What does Rob see when investing in Europe in both short and longer-term periods?
Policies under President Trump, and Marco Rubio at the State Department, and how that will shape foreign policy and economics in the next three years in terms of GDP, future tariffs, and inflation.
What has changed in the country of Nigeria, and why is it a ~6.5% performance winner towards Discovery’s fund?
Rob’s future view on gold (will it hit 6,000), and what he sees from the US dollar, and other currencies.
How Rob and his team look at volatility, efficiency of the markets, and diversification as it relates to regional asset classes, and why he believes the market is dumber than it’s ever been in history.
And more.

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About Robert Citrone:

Robert Citrone is the Founder and Portfolio Manager of Discovery Capital, a global macro investment firm he launched in 1999. With more than three decades of experience, he has built a career focused on emerging and developed markets, combining political analysis, policy insight, and fundamental research across equities, currencies, rates, and credit. Prior to founding Discovery Capital, Robert worked at Fidelity Investments, where he helped establish its emerging markets fixed income and currency group, and previously spent time at Tiger Management. He is known for his global perspective, extensive on the ground experience, and long standing relationships with policymakers and market participants around the world.

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