French Election 2017 Results

Jubilant crowds gathered outside the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday night to celebrate Emmanuel Macron’s decisive victory against his electoral and ideological rival Marine Le Pen, and usher their candidate into the Elysee Palace. A hotbed of Macron support, Paris is where the independent centrist won 90% of the vote, and the story was similar across other major cities. Macron’s popularity with the young and urban demographic had helped him gather over 65% of the overall vote in an election that had laid bare the political and social fault lines present in France.

A Victory for the EU

A battle between globalism and nationalism, between openness and international cooperation on one hand and mistrust and isolationism on the other, this election has seen the rise of accumulated anti-EU sentiment to the surface of political discourse. It has also shown that the market isn’t going to panic. Holding largely stable throughout the election cycle, investors were confident in a pro-EU future for France. The euro had risen to its highest point in six months in what is a victory for the global markets as well.

A Victory for the Market

It remains to be seen what legislative changes the election of Macron will bring, and Le Pen still has the parliamentary elections to look forward to next month, but with one major hurdle passed the markets can be calm. Asian markets were especially positive with an upwards swing for equities across the region. The Japanese Yen, perceived as a haven, weakened 0.2% in a sign of investor relief. The Australian dollar, Swiss franc and Norwegian krone all shed 0.1% against the US dollar. While the Euro lost some of its momentum as investors start looking beyond the election result.

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