Europe

Well today’s get rich quick scheme didn’t work out so great, writes former FX trader and fund manager Rich Breslow. It turns out that more than a few traders had the idea that they’d go with the huge Macron poll lead and superior debate performance and place a little weekend flutter. After all, not that many other people may have noticed. But whether or not the euro, bund yields and the like behaved as hoped on Macron’s win isn’t really dispositive of anything. Put it all down to noise.

Gold Coins and Bars Demand Rises 9% In Q1, 2017

From Bill Blain’s latest Morning Porridge edition

“To summarise the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job..”

The best thing about the French Election is I've just won a case of very fine French wine on the result! 

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

The French election, won overnight by Emmanuel Macron, put several segments of the French population opposite one another in a pretty fierce contest. And that contest will continue. Because Macron won’t be able to lift the French economy out of its doldrums any more than Le Pen could have, or than Trump can life the US, and the new president will have the honor of presiding over a further and deepening downturn. The French political dividing line was aptly described by Simon Kuper recently:

The dollar moved strongly, now over 25mg gold and 1.9g silver. This was a holiday-shortened week, due to the Early May bank holiday in the UK.

The big news as we write this, Macron beat Le Pen in the French election. We suppose this means markets can continue to do what they wanted to do before the threat of Frexit, shutting off trade between France and the rest of Europe, and who knows what else Le Pen was plotting to do to the French people.