Market Snapshot – Global Stocks Rise, Safe-Haven Assets Sink, EUR Jumps in French Election Relief Rally

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen Go to Second Round

The French Elections failed to follow in the footsteps of Britain’s EU Referendum and U.S Presidential Election last year, with centralist and market favourite Macron taking the first round with 23.9% of the vote after 97.3% of votes counted, Le Pen coming in second with 21.4% of the vote.

With Macron having flicked on the risk switch, we can expect gold and the Yen to lose more ground through the European and U.S sessions, with the Dollar likely to find its feet, though there may be too much ground to make up for the Dollar Spot Index to close out the day in positive territory.

Global Stocks Rise After French Election

European stock markets rallied as investors priced out French exit risks and risk appetite surged. The French CAC 40 led the way with more than 4.0% gain. The DAX is up 3% and above the 12400 mark, while Italian and Spanish markets outperformed with the CAC. Sentiment already improved in Asia, where most markets managed to close with gains, led by a 1.37% rise in the Nikkei, which was supported by a weaker Yen. U.S. stock futures are rallying in tandem with European markets.

The UK’s FTSE 250 hit a new record high following a 1%-plus gain in early session, since settling off the highs but remaining well bid. The narrower FTSE 100 is up 1.8%, but has remained well off the record high it posted on March 20.

Euro Hits Five-Month High

As they say, all is well that ends well. After the last couple of weeks in which the EUR/USD was rocked by the polls and counter polls and opinions around the first round of French elections, the elections did happen yesterday and the counting is over. Macron won comfortably against Le Pen and as expected, both these candidates now move ahead to the run off on May 7.

The results were generally good for the euro and traders have shown their relief today morning as the EURUSD pair rocketed through 1.0800 to hit 5 month high at 1.0916 and is now trading above 1.0850 at 1.0857.

Safe Haven Assets Drop As Investors Cheer French Vote

The results from the French election showed a clear victory for Macron with Le Pen being second which means that they are up for a run off on May 7. With Macron being business friendly and pro-Euro, it means that the fears and the uncertainties have died down for now.

This means that the traders now have more confidence in pulling out funds from safe assets and pushing them into the stock markets and this is the reason why we saw a huge gap down to 1266 when the gold prices opened for the day today.

Gold is trading at $1271, down 1.35%, Silver is down 0.44% to trade at $17.858.