US Stocks Higher After French Election Results

U.S. stocks rose 1% on Monday, with major indexes advancing in a broad rally after a strong showing by centrist Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election, which averted fears of a euroskeptic-only runoff.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.08% jumped 204 points, or 1%, to 20,752. The S&P 500 SPX, +1.06% added 24 points to 2,373, a gain of 1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.18% climbed 65.5 points to 5,976, a gain of 1.1%. The Nasdaq hit an all-time high of 5,980.49 in early trading.

The day’s advance was wide, with nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors climbing on the day. The only industries to fall were utilities and telecom, both of which lost less than 0.1% on the day, and both of which are viewed as defensive groups that perform better in periods of lower economic growth. The biggest gainer on the day was the financial sector, which soared 2.1% in its biggest one-day pop since March 1.

Perceived safe-haven assets like gold, the Japanese yen, and U.S. Treasurys all fell on the day.

Macron came in first in the first round of the French presidential voting with 23.9% of the vote, ahead of far-right euroskeptic candidate Marine Le Pen with 21.4%, and the two will now face off in the final round May 7. A poll late Sunday from Ipsos/Sopra Steria showed that Macron would likely win that runoff by 62% to 38%.

via MarketWatch

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza