“Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.” – Anton Chekhov

1. Landslide Win for Emmanuel Macron in France — Emmanuel Macron is set to become the youngest president in French history after winning 66% of Sunday’s runoff vote vs. National Front leader Marine Le Pen. He declared “I will fight with all my strength against the divisions that are undermining us,”. While his victory strengthens France’s place in the EU, he’ll soon have to prove his fledgling political party, En Marche, is capable of winning a majority in June’s legislative elections.
2. Key ETFs Asset Class Performance Matrix for May — the star of 2017 for US equity indices has been the Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ:QQQ), which is up 16.24% YTD. Both the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) and Dow 30 (NYSEARCA:DIA) are up around 6%. Meanwhile, Energy (NYSEARCA:XLE) is down more than 10%.

3. VIX (Fear Index) Back to It’s Pre-Crash Lows — the VIX fell to the lowest level since December 1993, including Monday’s 9.77 close, a finish in the single digits has only been managed 11 times for the VIX. The VIX, which is built using the implied volatilities of a wide range of S&P 500 index options, is meant to be forward-looking and is calculated from both calls and puts. It’s often referred to as the “investor fear gauge.”
4. Tesla Updates on Solar Roof initiative on Musk’s Grand Idea — Elon Musk’s vision for a grand unification of his clean-energy ambitions—combining solar power, home batteries, and electric cars in transformative of new solar roof project. Tesla’s first two styles of its solar roof – “black glass smooth” and “textured” – will be priced at about $21.85 per square foot. That’s more expensive than a typical roof, but less pricey than a roof with traditional solar and back-up batteries. The product will come “with a warranty for the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first,” as Tesla reported.
5. China Unveiled ‘One Belt, One Road’ — China’s President Xi unveiled detail plans for his “Belt and Road Initiative”. Over fifty agreements signed to advance the project, which aims to build a new Silk Road connecting Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The vast logistics and transport network would involve 65 nations that together account for one-third of global GDP.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: