Jeff Currie on the Crazy Surge in Metals, And Why The Supercycle Has Years to Run
The big story this year is the surge in metals. And it's really all metals. The ultimate industrial metal, copper, has been on a massive tear, but so has gold, which has very few industrial uses. And then, of course, silver has seen a blistering rally, in part due to massive buying in China. On this episode, we bring back the man who saw this coming years ago, Carlyle partner Jeff Currie. Prior to joining Carlyle, Currie was a top commodities analyst at Goldman Sachs, and has been calling for the emergence of a brand new supercycle for years now. In this episode, he explains the drivers of this supercycle, and why he thinks we're in the very early days of what will be a multi-year run.
Read more:Gold Retreats in Sudden Selloff After Breaking Through $5,500China’s Metals Mania Sends Copper Soaring Past $14,500 a Ton
Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots
Subscribe to the Odd Lots NewsletterJoin the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Grittiest Conversations of 2025: AI, Business & Beyond
In this recap episode, we highlight the best moments from our 2025 interviews and reflect on the ideas that defined the year.
Featuring:
David Rubenstein (co-founder of Carlyle)
Yamini Rangan (CEO of HubSpot)
Ben Chestnut (co-founder of Mailchimp)
Winston Weinberg (co-founder and CEO of Harvey)
Garrett Lord (co-founder of Handshake)
Aidan Gomez (co-founder and CEO of Cohere)
Michelle Zatlyn (co-founder of Cloudflare)
Evan Spiegel (co-founder and CEO of Snap)
Connect with Joubin
X: https://x.com/Joubinmir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit
Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/
From White House to Wall Street: David Rubenstein
David Rubenstein helped pioneer modern private equity—building The Carlyle Group into a $400B global investment firm from a modest D.C. office and a relentless fundraising streak. But beyond PE, his legacy spans presidential libraries, historic American artifacts, and a lifelong obsession with civic contribution.
In this episode, David shares how he raised billions without a background in finance, why owning a baseball team was more than just a trophy purchase—and what building true generational success really means beyond wealth alone.
Chapters:
00:00 Trailer
00:53 Introduction
01:40 Family, wealth, class
14:40 Happiness disparity and longevity
19:25 I need more to give away more
25:04 The relentless fundraiser
33:53 Kids and travel
36:06 No track record, the great white buffalo
38:59 Business and politics
43:53 Fired from Washington
45:52 Fundraising, presidents, podcast guests
48:04 Private equity and sports
53:44 Expenses — no charges
55:49 Waking up with energy
57:26 Preserving copies
1:02:05 Organizational architecture
1:03:41 Bury me in my plane
1:08:11 Not a big luxury spender
1:10:32 What “grit” means to David
1:10:50 Outro
Mentioned in this episode: Andrew Rubenstein, Stanford University, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Procter & Gamble Company, Forbes 400, Duke University, University of Chicago, Harvard Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Arianna Huffington, Xi Jinping, Hank Greenberg, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Baltimore Orioles, Fred Trammell Crow, Harlan Crow, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Arctos Partners LP, Anthropic, Magna Carta Libertatum, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln, US Constitution, National Archives, Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, Mark Cuban, Paul McCartney
Connect with David:
X: @DM_Rubenstein
Connect with Joubin:
X: @Joubinmir
LinkedIn: Joubin Mirzadegan
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
kleinerperkins.com
Global Elections, Foreign Affairs, and National Security — with Admiral James Stavridis
Admiral James Stavridis, a retired four-star U.S. naval officer, and currently Partner and Vice Chairman of Global Affairs for The Carlyle Group, joins Scott to discuss foreign affairs and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Scott opens with his thoughts on Biden remaining in the race.
Algebra of Happiness™: be open-minded.
Subscribe to No Mercy / No Malice
Buy "The Algebra of Wealth," out now.
Follow the podcast across socials @profgpod:
Instagram
Threads
X
Reddit
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jeff Currie on Why Copper Is His Highest-Conviction Trade Ever
Copper has long been touted as a big winner from the world's drive towards electrification. All those electric vehicles and new grids need lots of the metal to work. At the same time, since it takes years for new copper mining capacity to actually come on stream, many people expect a long-term shortage of the metal to materialize. But despite all that excitement, copper prices actually fell over the past few years. Now, copper bulls are getting another chance as the metal surges towards a new record. So why didn't the thesis play out before? And what does the mismatch between short-term prices and long-term supply actually mean for the world? In this episode, we speak to Jeff Currie, a long-time copper bull and commodities veteran who's now at Carlyle Group. We talk to him about why copper is his highest-conviction trade ever, plus the outlook for oil and big changes in petrodollars.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Conversation with Admiral James Stavridis — The State of Global Affairs
Admiral James Stavridis, a retired four-star U.S. naval officer and author of more than a dozen books, joins Scott to discuss the state of global affairs, the culture of the US’s armed forces, and how to approach national fragmentation.
Follow the Admiral on X, @stavridisj.
Scott opens with his thoughts on gambling.
Algebra of Happiness: teaching your kids basic skills.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Admiral Stavridis on a Plan to Get Ukrainian Wheat Out of a Warzone
Inflation was running hot even before Russia invaded Ukraine, but disruption in Europe's bread basket certainly hasn't helped matters and there are now plenty of warnings that a global food shortage could be looming. Even if the normal cycle of sowing crops and harvesting them can keep going uninterrupted in Ukraine, wheat exports would still need to get out of the country. With Russia currently blockading the Black Sea, this seems like a major challenge. In this episode of Odd Lots, former Nato Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis presents one idea to get Ukrainian grains out and to the rest of the world. He suggests reaching back to a military playbook last used in the Tanker War between Iraq and Iran.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jeff Currie on the 'Volatility Trap' Keeping Commodity Prices So High
Goldman's top commodity strategist Jeff Currie was one of the earliest to call that we're in a new commodities supercycle, starting early last year. Well, it's not even close to over. Currie estimates that we're just in the second inning of it. The issue is what Currie characterizes as a "volatility trap" that's keeping investment on the sidelines, despite surging prices of spot commodity prices. In this episode, he explains how far commodity prices can go, what the challenges are to inducing further investment, and what policies could help bring things into balance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
David Rubenstein - Life, Leadership, and LBOs - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 270]
My guest today is David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group - one of the largest private equity firms in the world. David has worked in the White House, built a $300 billion investment institution, become a prominent philanthropist, published books, and even hosts his own TV show. It was a thrill to sit down with him and cover the whole spectrum of his experience as a father, investor, historian, and titan of American business. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Rubenstein.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
-----
Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.
Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus
Show Notes
[00:03:02] - [First question] - What his perspective on the world today is compared to the last forty years
[00:05:35] - The long term implications of the Ukraine war on a global scale
[00:07:54] - Concerns and thoughts on the US’s role in a radically different world
[00:10:07] - How inflation and reduced globalization impacts business behavior in the US
[00:14:11] - His method when interviewing people and how it’s changed over time
[00:15:03] - How his interest in leadership as a topic began; How to Lead
[00:17:55] - The time he was the most personally in awe of a leader
[00:19:05] - The most basic ingredients for strong leadership
[00:21:34] - Learning from Oprah and developing his own interviewing style
[00:24:25] - His leadership style while running Carlyle and key variables that drove Carlyle’s success
[00:28:41] - The ways that were most effective in terms of investment for Carlyle’s brand
[00:29:50] - How should a new investor think about the relationship between government and business
[00:32:17] - What he’s learned about leadership that he thinks is the most portable for other people
[00:34:04] - His interest in masters of leadership and what he has learned from them
[00:35:08] - How Carlyle retained their talent and building relationships with LP investors
[00:37:20] - Lessons from working in media with what worked and what didn’t; How to Invest
[00:38:55] - How he approached writing How to Invest
[00:41:13] - The importance of intuition when evaluating backers and why geniuses aren’t always chosen
[00:43:04] - Big aspects of American history and why he finds it so interesting; The American Story
[00:44:17] - Key drivers of American outcomes and biggest areas for improvement
[00:47:00] - Lessons he learned going from humble beginnings to amassing wealth and how he’s teaching his children about it
[00:49:20] - The state of private equity and what are its best and highest functions today
[00:51:03] - Experience and impressions on the emerging cryptosphere
[00:52:25] - What makes for a good chairman and why he is always drawn to that role
[00:53:42] - The most interesting system outside of the US that he’s observed
[00:55:33] - What he has learned about being a giving pledge signer and philanthropy
[00:57:02] - His interest in Monticello and the Magna Carta
[00:59:13] - View on how speeches from leaders have changed over the years; Citizenship in a Republic
[01:01:24] - What subject he would write his next book on
[01:03:58] - Thoughts on the line between giving your life for your country versus your state
[01:05:17] - The American Experiment
[01:06:10] - Looking back on his career at a time where he felt the most alive
[01:08:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Goldman’s Jeff Currie: It’s a Commodities Supercycle, and We Still Haven’t Hit Max Pain
Back in January, we spoke with Jeff Currie, the Global Head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs. At the time, he was bullish on the commodities complex for several reasons. Since then, of course, we've seen several markets go on an absolute tear and to a degree that's taken even him by surprise. The bad news for commodities consumers? We still haven't hit max pain. On this episode, we speak again with Jeff about what's driving prices higher and why he sees stronger price increases over the next several months.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Goldman's Jeff Currie on the Silver Squeeze and the Coming Boom in Commodities
It's been a weird several days in the market. What started with a short squeeze in GameStop, driven by Reddit traders, somehow morphed into a huge surge in demand for silver. Whether it started on WallStreetBets is unclear, but something happened that caused demand for the metal to surge. So we talked about this with Jeff Currie, the global head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs. We also discussed why he sees a huge bull market coming in commodities. And why Biden's policies of green stimulus and redistributive economic policy may push the price of oil even higher.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
322. Extra: David Rubenstein Full Interview
Stephen Dubner's conversation with the co-founder and longtime co-C.E.O. of the Carlyle Group, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
315. How to Become a C.E.O.
Mark Zuckerberg's dentist dad was an early adopter of digital x-rays. Jack Welch blew the roof off a factory. Carol Bartz was a Wisconsin farm girl who got into computers. No two C.E.O.'s have the same origin story — so we tell them all! How the leaders of Facebook, G.E., Yahoo!, PepsiCo, Microsoft, Virgin, the Carlyle Group, Reddit, and Bridgewater Associates made it to the top. (Part 2 of a special series, "The Secret Life of C.E.O.'s.")
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What Does a C.E.O. Actually Do?
They're paid a fortune — but for what, exactly? What makes a good C.E.O. — and how can you even tell? Is "leadership science" a real thing — or just airport-bookstore mumbo jumbo? We put these questions to Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Indra Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Jack Welch, Ray Dalio, Carol Bartz, David Rubenstein, and Ellen Pao. (Part 1 of a special series, "The Secret Life of C.E.O.'s.")
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}