In France, Emmanuel Macron (independent) and Marine Le Pen (Far right) have come out as the two leading candidates of the first round of the presidential elections. The second round will take place on May 7th with Polls indicating that pro-Euro Macron will prevail. With the market now partially relieved that FREXIT will not happen due to polls indicating that anti Euro Le pen will lose on May 7th, the Euro and stocks surged last night. 

EUR/USD soared to 1.09 levels (5 months high) from 1.07 following the results of the French Presidential election. Even a bigger winner, EUR/JPY climbed 400 pips. EUR/GBP jumped to the 0.85 level – close to where it was trading before the early UK election call last week. USD/JPY broke major resistance at 110 and jumped till 110.51. The pair jumped from the low of 1.0813 and is currently trading at 110.12. 

Stock Markets in Asia and Europe also rallied. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average finished morning trading up 1.5%, while the German DAX opened up 1.8% or 200 points.

Gold, which moves in opposite direction than Stocks and USD/JPY, lost $20 of its value on the opening and started the trading day at $1264. The yellow metal then recovered all the way to $1277 before stabilizing at $1270 where is trading now.