Yes Mark, an Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll suggests Macron leads with 23.seven percent in first round voting and Le Pen had 21 point seven.
European shares rose sharply on Monday as risky assets staged a powerful rally after centrist Emmanuel Macron won the first voting round of France's presidential election, reducing risks of more political stress for the euro zone.
Opinion polls have consistently predicted Mr Macron defeating his rival in the run-off.
Support for Communist-backed Melenchon, meanwhile, had surged in recent weeks on the back of assured performances in two televised debates. But there's a big difference: Le Pen's main base is among the young. The euro jumped the most in a month, climbing 1 percent to $1.0838 as of 8:49 a.m.in Paris. The results will be seen as a credit to French pollsters, who successfully forecast the results. He showed us one of Le Pen's videos aimed squarely at millennials who face an unemployment rate stuck at almost 25 percent.
Sunday's outcome is a huge defeat for the two center-right and center-left groupings that have dominated French politics for 60 years, and also reduces the prospect of an anti-establishment shock on the scale of Britain's vote last June to quit the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as USA president.
Closely watched around the world, the French campaign has been full of twists and turns. But most analysts believe that the departure of France, along with Germany, one of the key levers of European integration, would spell the end for an institution that has helped consign the continent's blood-soaked past to history.
But do not think she will not be trying to win.
"While markets had deemed a Le Pen-Macron (run-off) as the most likely outcome, there was an element of uncertainty", said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz.
A low turnout will clearly favour Mrs Le Pen; a turnout of not more than 60 per cent of the electorate may well see the National Front leader win. "Good that Emmanuel Macron was successful with its course for a strong European Union + social market economy", he tweeted.
In Asian markets, the euro soared two percent to $1.09395 when markets opened before slipping back to around $1.0886, the euro's highest level since the election of Donald Trump as the United States president on November 10.
Zidane: Madrid not clever enough
Real Madrid and Barcelona put on a classic that saw the latter come out 3-2 winners thanks to a last-gasp Lionel Messi victor . Meanwhile, Zidane made a substitution and gave James Rodriguez a chance to prove his importance for the team.
France's two political outsiders - the progressive, pro-business and socially liberal Macron and the anti-immigration, anti-EU, far-right Le Pen - will now face off in a final round on 7th May.
"A victory for Le Pen would have been a systemic event and challenging to prepare for".
Francois Fillon: The conservative candidate beat former president Nicolas Sarkozy in the primary and appeared on course for victory, but his campaign was hit by scandal and he slipped outside the top two.
"The great debate will now take place", a smiling Le Pen told a crowd of a several hundred at the hall.
"We have a battle between Macron and Le Pen and we should not hesitate because Le Pen is a huge disaster of France". He wants to make France innovative and risk-taking. Despite hopes for a stronger finish - polls previously showed Le Pen winning as much as 28 percent of the first-round vote - senior aides declared her score of around 22 percent impressive.
He would face formidable challenges as president.
In a March debate, Le Pen mocked the complexity of Macron's answers.
"The first step. has been taken", she said. Le Pen will nearly certainly be defeated in two weeks time, and equities can continue to rally going into 2018 as non-existential risks can be absorbed.
In the market town of Valencienne, Venus Beaudechon was out spreading Le Pen's anti-free trade message. "The task is big", Macron said.
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