Written by John Stepek, Editor of Money Week

OK, drama’s over.

The French election has turned out pretty much exactly as expected.

For all that some of the papers are leading with “French revolution” headlines, the reality is that a face-off between the right-wing Marine Le Pen of the Front National and independent/socialist candidate Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! has been on the cards for months now.

LePen and Gold bars (Metalor 100g). Concerns about Frexit and the end of the euro has seen strong demand for gold in France and throughout jittery EU countries

So what happens now? And what does it mean for your money?

Looks as though Macron will win the French presidency

Emmanuel Macron, the French Tony Blair, won about 24% of the votes in yesterday’s first round of the French presidential election. Marine Le Pen, the French Nigel Farage, won around 22%.

They go through to the final round on 7 May. The rest of the candidates are out of the race.

Who will win?

The polls say Macron. The markets also say Macron. The euro has leapt to a five-month high this morning. Bond markets are calming down – spreads across the eurozone region are tightening (for example, the gap between what it costs France to borrow money, compared to what it costs Germany to borrow money, is shrinking).

Stocks are likely to go higher too.

You might say: “Ah, but what about Trump?” and plenty of people have. I take your point – I’m a sceptic by nature, I don’t have a particular dog in this fight, and I’d never say never.

But sometimes the market and pollsters do get things right. And it does look highly likely that Macron will beat Le Pen in the second round.

Firstly, polls suggest a large gap. He’s on 62% versus 38% for her, and this sort of gap has been consistent across the election process. Secondly, the other candidates have largely now said: “Back Macron”.