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At equinore. UK. Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, July 1st, and this is your

F.T. News briefing. France's president Emmanuel Macron took a gamble on a snap election, thinking he could help his party.

Macron's decision to call these snap elections will go down is probably the worst one he has made in his entire political career.

The F.T.'s Lala Abood will

tell us about yesterday's big victory for France's far right. And it's been a

pretty victorious year so far for US financial markets will take stock at this mid-year point. I'm Jess Smith and

here's the news you need to start your day. France are in a vote in a vote. That's France's

far right politician Maureen Le Penh celebrating her party's

victory in yesterday's first round of parliamentary elections.

Her party's win was not a total surprise.

French voters have shifted to the right in recent years, and polls had predicted a win

for her party, R.N.

But voters turned out in record numbers,

and the Penn's party won more than a third of the vote.

I'm joined now by our Paris Bureau Chief Leila Abood. Hi, Leila.

Lila, there's still a second round of elections next week, but what does this first round

tell us?

So there has been a sea change in French politics that we'll have to see how big of a sea change it is next week,

but I wouldn't sort of forget that it is surprising to see the RN at these levels. The vote

indicates something that we've seen for in polling probably for the past 10 or 15

...