As we approach today’s closing bell, the major indices are all up a bit over one percent.  That makes today the best day in almost two months of trading.  The French Election is largely being credited with being the biggest catalyst behind today’s action.  In the first round of the election, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen both advanced.  The next round of the election is set to take place on May 7.  Most polls seem to show Macron with a decent lead, but if Brexit and our own polls from our most recent presidential election have taught us anything, it is not to count our chickens before they’re hatched.  In this round, Macron received 23.9 percent of the vote to Le Pen’s 21.4.  Many of the other parties and their candidates that did not advance have already said they’ll support Macron over Le Pen.  We’ll see what happens in the next round in just under two weeks.  Markets seem to be viewing what is a likely Macron lead as a positive, because he has vowed that France will remain in the European Union should he win.  This route provides a bit more certainty/stability in the eyes of traders, which is why we’re seeing massive gains across the globe.