Allianz Research

Allianz Global Wealth Report 2024:
Surprising relief

When Main Street makes it to Wall Street

The US equity market rally since 23 March has surprised and wrong-footed more than one professional investor. We see four valid explanations for the current decoupling between the U.S. equity market and economic fundamentals.

Construction companies in Europe – Size does matter

Covid-19 is sparking a profitability shock for SMEs in the construction sector. SMEs represent the lion’s share of companies in the construction sector, with about 80% of the sector’s turnover in Europe.

The risk of 9 million zombie jobs in Europe

In Europe, blanket job-retention schemes helped prevent mass unemployment in the short-term, contrary to the U.S. experience: Close to a third of Europe’s workforce or 45 million jobs in the five largest economies alone are currently benefiting from national employment support schemes.