Le Pen Victory Worries Some Investors a Lot More Than Others

The first round of the French elections takes center stage this weekend and investors around the world will be watching closely. The key concern is whether the far-right and euroskeptic candidate Marine Le Pen -- who has promised to renegotiate France’s relationship with the European Union and call a "Frexit" referendum within six months -- will become the next president.

A victory by Le Pen is not altogether improbable. She is running neck-and-neck with Emmanuel Macron, an independent, and the current four-way race opens up several possibilities about who she may face in a second round. While her polling gap versus Macron is very large in the second round, and seems hard to close in just two weeks, Le Pen could have a better shot versus some opponents such as Francois Fillon of the center-right Republicans and the Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon.