FRENCH POLITICS >>>
With 20 days to go to the lower house snap elections, a poll credits Marine Le Pen RN with 34% of the vote, far ahead of the left & far-left coalition and the Macron camp. One election can hide another. No sooner have the results of the European elections been announced than all eyes have turned to the early legislative elections. With 20 days to go to the first round, a Toluna Harris Interactive poll for Challenges, M6 and RTL puts the Rassemblement National (RN) well ahead. If the legislative elections had been held today, the Rassemblement National would have won 34% of the vote. A clear improvement on the 18.7% recorded in 2022. Long under-represented in the Assembly, the RN would be the leading force in the lower house. However, as the legislative elections will be held in 577 constituencies over two rounds, it is very difficult to project a precise number of seats. For the time being, it's impossible to know whether the Marinist troops will win an absolute or even a relative majority. Nevertheless, they seem to be well positioned to win the election, especially if they can create a coalition with other right-wing parties and traditional right. A win by RN could lead to a cohabitation with Jordan Bardella (RN) as Prime Minister. Source: Le Figaro
The traffic light coalition in Germany suffers a historic rout in the European elections.
German Chancellor Scholz’s SPD crashed to 14%, their worst-ever result, falling to 3rd place behind the far-right AfD, exit polls show. The other 2 parties in Scholz’s ruling alliance – the Greens and the FDP – got 12% and 5% respectively. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
FRANCE | *MACRON'S GROUP THRASHED BY FAR-RIGHT LE PEN'S PARTY IN EU VOTE - BBG
*MACRON GROUP HAS 15%-16%, LE PEN'S HAS 32%-33%: POLLSTERS Source: Bloomberg, Le Figaro, C.Barraud
EU Parliamentary elections in France.
In brown where Far-right Le Pen party has won yesterday. Source: Xavier Ruiz
Euro sinks on EU vote and French snap poll.
Common currency falls to lowest in a month. Hedge funds had recently turned net bullish on the Euro. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
France’s bond yield hit the highest level this year on snap election.
10 year French bond yield climbs 11bps to 3.21%. Risk spread over Germany rose to 54bps, highest since January. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
Austria’s hawkish central bank chief Robert Holzmann was the sole dissenter on ECB rate cut, BBG reports, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Source: HolgerZ, Bloomberg
As highlighted by Tavi Costa:
Despite quantitative tightening in most developed economies, their money supply continues to grow substantially, undermining their policies in a significant way. "Today's ECB decision to cut rates highlights how central banks are trapped and forced to reinstate financial repression even as inflation remains higher than historical norms. These policies act as a relief valve to alleviate financial stress, leading to a surge in prices of hard assets with limited supply". Source: Crescat Capital, Bloomberg
