France: Le Pen continues to stretch her lead in the presidential race - ANZ

Overnight polls showed that National Front leader Le Pen continues to stretch her lead over main rivals in the French presidential race notes research team at ANZ.

Key Quotes

“A daily poll by OpinionWay showed first-round support for Le Pen rising 1%pt to 27%, above her nearest rivals Macron and Fillon at 20% each. Admittedly, in the second round, polls have Macron defeating Le Pen with 58% of the vote, although his lead has halved in the past two weeks.”

“European bond spreads are widening which represents a tightening in financial conditions at a time the ECB is low on fire-power. Irrespective of the actual outcome, it is notable that 42% of the French electorate is currently supporting parties with a Euro-sceptic platform.”