Allianz Global Wealth Report 2026

ECB Strategy Review: Easy does it!

Today’s ECB meeting was uneventful when it comes to the short-term monetary policy outlook as all policy rates remained unchanged.

Retail in the U.S.: Towards destructive destruction

At first glance, the U.S. retail industry is the typical case of what the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction”, in which new entrants capture growth or create new markets altogether at the expense of established companies.

Russia: External account: more a story of oil and less of sanctions

The strong decrease in Russia’s current account surplus in 2019 has been confirmed. It declined to USD71bn (an estimated +4.2% of GDP) in 2019, down from USD114bn (+6.8% of GDP) in 2018. Merchandise exports dropped by -6% or -USD25bn to USD418bn in 2019.