Macron won the final battle of the French presidential election which was in line with market expectations. He has become the youngest president in the French history.
Notably, Macron got 66.06% of the votes, largely surpassing his opponent Le Pen’s 33.94% outperforming the 20% lead poll projections.
The voting ratio was 65.3%, which was lowest compared to the past three presidential elections; 71.96% in 2012, 75.11% in 2007 and 67.62% in 2002. Macron received a higher share of votes in big cities such as Paris and Marseille whilst Le Pen received a higher share of votes in the suburbs.
Le Pen’s extreme stance and policies, such as anti-globalization, anti-immigrants, trade protectionism and making France leave the EU, will likely lead France’s direction back toward conservativism and enclosure.
Conversely, Macron’s policies aim to change the country’s long-standing bureaucracy and excessive government control to revive the sluggish French economic performance. The outright victory of the independent centrist Macron indicates that French citizens aspire for change and variety.
Macron’s victory has eased market concerns over France’s leaving the EU and the collapse of the EU, pushing EUR and Europeans stocks further up.
During the early Asian session on Monday, EUR/USD hit a 6-month high of 1.1021. EUR/JPY hit a high of 124.49, last seen May 12 of 2016. Spot gold hit a low of 1220.77, last seen March 17. However, EUR and European stocks saw a retracement during the early European session due to profit taking pressure and the rebound of USD.
Macon now must face severe challenges such as high unemployment rate, low economic growth and immigration issue. In addition, as Macron is independent, he has little control of the parliament, which will likely be a hurdle after he taking office.
