Mark Gilbert , Columnist

Markets Are Right to Take a Le Pen Presidency Seriously

The National Front leader continues to win support, both in polls and from the bookmakers.

February 22, 2017 at 1:32 PM UTC

Mark Gilbert is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering asset management. A former London bureau chief for Bloomberg News, he is author of “Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable.”

A scary prospect for traders and investors.
Photographer: Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images

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Political soothsayers remain convinced that National Front leader Marine Le Pen won’t succeed in her bid to become French president in the country’s two-stage election. Traders and investors seem less relaxed about the outcome. After the shocks of the U.K. voting for Brexit and Donald Trump becoming U.S. president, they’re right to be taking out extra insurance.

According to figures compiled by the website Oddschecker.com, the three main candidates are now neck-and-neck to become the next French president, based on the odds available from bookmakers. Republican candidate Francois Fillon has recovered ground lost during revelations he paid his family as staff members, while independent candidate Emmanuel Macron has slipped in the betting: