Rob Citrone Sees Dollar Higher, Says Sell Europe, Emerging Markets

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund manager Rob Citrone believes “things are bubbling behind the scenes” in Europe and investors should sell the region’s assets, he told CNBC Thursday.

The founder of the $3.8 billion firm Discovery Capital Management, which has made money this year betting against Italy, reiterated his concerns about the nation’s debt sustainability and populism in the region.

Citrone, who’s also made money shorting Turkey and is bearish on Mexico and South Africa, said investors should “flat out sell” emerging markets, with the exception of India and Argentina. He described the nations as “two pearls of fantastic opportunity.” South America’s second-biggest economy, which has seen its currency plunge 50 percent this year, has been “beaten up” but remains “very interesting” to the fund manager, he said.

Read more about Citrone’s emerging-market outlooks here.

U.S. trade tariffs -- which earlier today billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper described as the biggest risk to the U.S. stock market -- are a “big issue” for Chinese markets in the long run, said Citrone.

“I think we’re going to see a bit of a relief rally in the short term,” he said. “We believe the tariffs are coming. This is not a short-term issue.”

Citrone sees the dollar strengthening and said he’s long U.S. assets.

“We like the U.S. relative to the rest of the world,” he said. “This is the best place in the world to put your capital.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Porzecanski in New York at kporzecansk1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Mary Romano

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