What's going on?

It was only the first round of the French presidential election, but a victory for market-friendly candidate Emmanuel Macron led to a big rally for the euro and European stocks (tweet this) � and helped push stocks in other regions higher too.

What does this mean?

Sunday�s election narrowed the field down to two candidates. In two weeks, Macron will face off against Marine Le Pen, who is in favour of France leaving the euro. Investors were heartened that Le Pen did not perform better than polls predicted � after surprises with the Brexit vote and President Trump�s election, investors were more distrustful than usual of polls. Current polls give Macron a roughly 60/40 advantage heading into the final round, and investors appear confident in his victory.

Why should I care?

For the markets: Eurozone investments had a great day.

Investors moved into eurozone investments that, for international investors, involve buying the euro. That helped push the euro up versus other currencies. Eurozone stocks jumped about 4% (which is a lot for one day!), reflecting investors� optimism that a major risk to the eurozone economy had abated. The optimism fed through to other markets, with almost all major stock markets higher on Monday; it was what traders call a classic �risk on� day (when riskier investments, like stocks, go up).

The bigger picture: France�s election could be seen as a vote of confidence in the euro.

The nine years since the financial crisis have been challenging for the eurozone, with relatively high unemployment and bailouts of over-indebted states. Anti-euro movements have gained ground in countries such as Italy, France and others. If Sunday�s electoral result in favor of Macron is repeated in two weeks it will be, effectively, an endorsement of the euro by its second largest economy � and a big pare back of a potential existential risk for the euro.