Worldwide Financial Planning

In France, President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in a gamble that when it comes down to it voters will be less keen to put hard-liners in charge in Paris. With his party already a minority in the National Assembly, Macron is already facing problems passing new legislation and the final calculation is that even if RN win it could stop Le Pen winning the 2027 presidential election, as a few years in control of the French parliament may put the French public off RN for good.

It's a question I get asked every election, and this answer, while ‘amazingly exciting’, is equally of a cardboard licking, palette numbing blandness, but read on because I did loads of research!

The FOMC meeting came off the back of a decent CPI print. May’s inflation data came in softer than consensus expectations with headline CPI decelerating slightly to 3.3% versus 3.4% in April.

The European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates by a well communicated 25bps at their meeting, taking their key deposit rate to 3.75%, main refinancing rate to 4.25% and marginal lending facility to 4.5% - from 4.00%, 4.5% and 4.75% respectively.

However, the positivity in bond markets this week has more to do with hopes that the Federal Reserve may be able to cut rates after all. The market’s ability to forecast Federal Reserve rate cuts is only slightly less reliable than the Conservatives’ analysis of their own and Labour’s tax policies.

I've mentioned the potential impact that short sellers have on the stock because a declining share price is fodder for them. Short selling is where investors bet on a share price falling and profit if it then does so.