The euro edged lower this morning, pressured by nervousness over the upcoming French presidential elections as investors took stock of recent polls showing a tightening race.
The campaign is being closely followed by investors, as one contestant — the far right Marine Le Pen — has threatened to pull France out of the European Union if she wins, fueling concerns of an unraveling of the bloc after Britain’s vote to leave it last year.
There’s a general unease I would say … we are seeing in the (French) opinions polls that the race appears to be tightening.
Polls have for weeks shown Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron on track to top the first round of voting on April 23 and go through to the May 7 runoff.
British consumer spending increased at the slowest annual pace in more than three years in the first 3 months of 2017, in a further sign that one of the economy’s main engine is losing steam as Brexit preparations begin, a survey showed this morning.