Stocks surge as Macron takes the lead

When it became clear that Emmanuel Macron had narrowly prevailed over Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election, markets surged.

The eurozone has dodged the populist threat that put political and financial stability at risk, says Lionel Laurent on Bloomberg. When it became clear that Emmanuel Macron had narrowly prevailed over the far-right National Front's Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election, markets surged. The French blue-chip index CAC-40 had its best day since 2012, climbing by 4.1%.

A gauge of global stocks reached a new record high, while the euro soared by 2.33% against the dollar to a six-month peak. The polls proved right for once, banishing fears of a run-off between far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and Le Pen. Both of them want to renegotiate France's relationship with the European Union. With the centrist Macron miles ahead of Le Pen in the polls for the second round, the eurozone and EU should live to fight another day.

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Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.