Pioneer Investments
April 24, 2017
A global investment manager dedicated to growing and preserving client assets

Champagne for Risk Assets

It was an absolutely unprecedented first round, with four contenders quite close in the polls and just one of them (not ranked among the strongest) belonging to a traditional party. This unpredictability added to the scares and fears of the market.
At the moment, markets can breathe a (brief) sigh of relief that the outcome of the vote was largely as expected (although an element of uncertainty will likely remain for the next two weeks ahead of the final round of voting): Emmanuel Macron (at 23.86%) and Marine Le Pen (at 21.43%) won the first round of the presidential elections; Macron has already gained the support of both Fillon (the gaullist candidate, who obtained 19.94% of the votes) and Hamon (the socialist candidate that got only 6.35% of the votes) for the second round. Melenchon (19.62%) said he will not give his support to either of the two candidates. Nonetheless, the formation of the so-called Republican Front (i.e. an alliance in the run-off election between socialists and republicans/gaullists versus Le Pen’s party) has already happened. Such an alliance has prevented any significant electoral success for the Front National (FN) in recent years and has led to a scant representation in the National Assembly for the party. In addition, it must be said that the polls were fairly accurate in predicting actual results, with the first 5 candidates in the range of 1-1.5% from the numbers seen in the week before the elections. The same polls were suggesting that Macron will win the run-off election in two weeks’ time by a wide margin (60%-40%).
In the end, it can be expected that left-to-center voters will largely choose Macron in the run-off, with only an element of center-right voters adding their support to Le Pen. This is clearly a market friendly scenario. Macron is a European enthusiast and also has a positive track record, as a minister, of being a reformer.

Implications for Europe
A stronger impetus in advancing the construction of Europe will surely be beneficial on the economic outlook for Europe. We know there are still a number of things in which a stronger integration, or at least a stronger coordination, will help to take advantage of being part of a currency union (which is still partially untapped). This outcome will also have a short-term impact: stronger support for European actions coming from one of its leading countries will help shape policies and clarify objectives. This will also help confidence in general and will help push corporate investment, thereby reducing medium-term risks.
Taking a broader, geopolitical, perspective, the interaction between national elections and the need to reshape and reform Europe is an ongoing feature of this year; although now the Dutch election and, hopefully, also the French one seem to have cleared the potential hurdles to this process. Current polls suggest that the populist, right wing party (Alternative für Deutschland) in Germany is losing momentum, therefore it can be asserted that risks coming from the political arena are reducing. However, there is still some uncertainty related to Greece, even though a tentative political agreement was reached before Easter. What remains to be solved is political uncertainty in Italy, but this is likely to be a theme for 2018.

From an investment point of view, we expect this electoral outcome to be well received by the market– bringing a relief rally in European equities and spread tightening across European peripheral bonds (including French OAT). Within a multi asset approach, we remain constructive on risk assets, especially equity, based on a benign growth and inflation outlook. Overall, we favour Europe and Japan, reflecting the improvements in the macroeconomic backdrop and relatively attractive valuations. We consider some safe heaven assets – the 2 year Shatz in particular – to be extremely expensive and inconsistent with a reflation narrative. However, we continue to see the resurgence of volatility to be a key risk, given the number of geopolitical challenges still at play. Against this backdrop, we believe that investors should continue to keep hedging in place through volatility strategies, U.S. Dollar exposure and Gold.

 


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