
With the first round of the French presidential election becoming a four-horse race, markets are right to worry about a Marine Le Pen — Jean-Luc Mélenchon runoff on 7 May. Indeed, momentum behind Mr Mélenchon has seen him become the most credible candidate on the left, triggering heightened uncertainty in financial markets. In our view, French and peripheral yield spreads remain too low, underpricing the risk of the next president of France being a eurosceptic. As political events in Europe unfold, our newly launched section on Thomson Reuters Chartbook, called “European elections”, will provide a useful tool for those who