It’s a new month and a new quarter for the stock market, and Wall Street is trying to kick things off with a modest rally. Crude oil, gold, and silver are up a bit, too, while the dollar is slightly lower along with Treasuries.
France’s far-right National Rally party won 33.2% of the vote in the first round of elections there, compared with only 20.8% for President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party. Runoff elections taking place on July 7 will determine the final makeup of France’s parliament.
But French stocks and bonds rallied because the showing wasn’t strong enough to suggest Marine Le Pen’s party would win enough seats for an absolute majority. That, in turn, would prevent some of the most expensive and anti-European Union plans and positions from being adopted. The iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ) slumped more than 6% in the last three months, though it’s gaining some of that back today.
iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ)
It's official: The Boeing Co. (BA) will buy Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (SPR) for $8.3 billion including debt. By bringing Spirit in-house, Boeing hope to stem worries among investors, customers, and regulators about manufacturing quality. Boeing had originally spun Spirit out in 2005 as part of a cost-cutting move.
Finally, “Roaring Kitty” has struck again. The meme stock trader/investor Keith Gill revealed a 6.6% stake in online pet supplier Chewy Inc. (CHWY), news that sent its shares sharply higher today. He had already sparked a rally in CHWY late last week by posting a picture of a dog on his social media account.
