Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Monday, April 24:
1. Macron tops voting in French election
Results from the first round of the closely-watched French presidential election on Sunday showed centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen advancing to the second and final round on May 7.
Committed globalist Macron took about 23.8% of the vote, while Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the euro, took 21.5%, according to an official tally with 97.4% of ballots counted.
Macron is widely tipped to win the final vote, with opinion polls showing him comfortably beating Le Pen by more than 20 percentage points, reducing the risk of an anti-establishment shock in the final round.
2. Euro pops to 5-month high
The euro spiked to five-month peaks on Monday after results showed centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election.
Macron is leading the polls for the runoff vote, setting him on course to become France’s next president, meaning that the risk of Frexit and the potential breakup of the euro zone has waned.
The euro was up 1.3% at 1.0867 by midday in Europe after earlier rising as high as 1.0928, its strongest since November 10 (EUR/USD).
Against the yen, the euro jumped 2.3% to 119.70, after touching a one-month high of 120.70 (EUR/JPY).
The euro also made gains against the British pound, trading 1.3% higher at 0.8479 (EUR/GBP).
3. French government bonds rally
French government bonds rallied on Monday, leading the gap between French and German borrowing costs to narrow sharply as a wave of relief swept through markets after the first round results of the country’s presidential election race.
The yield on French 10-year notes dropped nearly 10.0 basis points to about 0.77%, its lowest since January 17.
Meanwhile, the German 10-year benchmark bund yield climbed almost 10.0 bps to around 0.35%.
That left the gap between the two, a barometer in recent months of French election risks, at around 42 basis points, down from 62 bps on Friday and the tightest since January.
Yields rise when bond prices fall as investors demand a higher rate of return for holding the debt.
4. Global stocks in risk-on mode
U.S. stock market futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Monday morning, after French election results eased fears over the future of the euro zone, cheering investors.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 194 points, or around 1%, to 20,697, the S&P 500 futures added 26 points, or 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 59 points, or 1%.
In Europe, stocks rallied to multi-year highs in mid-morning trade, with Germany's DAX up around 2.7% to an all-time peak of 12,395.
France's CAC 40 jumped more than 4% to a nine-year high, setting it on track for its biggest one-day percentage increase since August 2015, with banks leading gains.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei closing up about 1.4%.
The Shanghai Composite in China bucked the trend, ending down almost 1.4% amid concern Beijing will step up measures to crack down on leveraged trading.
5. Safe-havens dumped
Investors dumped safe-haven assets after a first-round win for centrist Emmanuel Macron averted fears of a euroskeptic-only final runoff in the French presidential election.
Gold lost $17.00, or around 1.3%, to $1,271.90 a troy ounce. The yellow metal fell by as much as 1.8% earlier to a session low of $1,266.00, the weakest since April 11.
The dollar was up around 1% at 110.15 against the Japanese yen, rising above the 110-level level for the first time in nearly two weeks and logging an earlier high of 110.52 (USD/JPY).