I just love this stuff. The bookies in Europe are heavily in favor of Mr. Macron winning the French Election today.

The Lady, Ms. Le Pen, does not stand a chance, according to the bettors.

I have no clue as to what will happen. All I can tell you is that Vegas bettors overwhelmingly had Hillary Clinton as the winner and Mr. Trump just barely showing up. You know what happened there. I am not in favor of chaos, OK most times, but it surely would be fun to see what would happen if the anti-establishment, anti-immigration, anti-European Union Ms. Le Pen would win.

I don’t know if chaos would show up, but I can assure you that something would happen. This 48-year-old lady is a fierce campaigner. She said, “My dear compatriots, I’m not interested in your race, your origin, your sexual orientations,” she said. “What interests me is your happiness.”

That is powerful stuff in my view. It is somewhat similar to the Donald’s appeal to voters. She is not at all like Mr. Trump in most areas, but if I were Mr. Macron I would be peaking over my shoulder. I am not a big fan of France myself, other than their food and history. I have visited there and I once ate an ice cream cone under the Eiffel Tower, but that is another story. The stock markets would likely not care much for Ms. Le Pen so that could be unpleasant. It, however, would be fun to watch.

OK, what is happening in the stock markets of the U. S.? It does not get much better than this.

As I write this on Wednesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up a little under 7 percent year-to-date. We financial people like to annualize stats like that and say, “Wow, that annualizes to a 21 percent return for 2017.” The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index is up over 7 percent. The Nasdaq is thundering along up around 13 percent.

Generally, the FANG stocks, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, are pushing the total market higher and some have their effect on the Nasdaq.

Interestingly the small and mid-sized companies are lagging. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies is up only about 3.5 percent and the Midcaps are up around 5 percent. Normally I like to see them leading the way but right now they are a no go.

The foreign markets have been heating up. The EAFE Index, which measures markets outside the U.S. and Canada, is bounding along up over 10 percent. I like to see that.

Those markets have been crappy for long enough. In times gone by if you owned foreign stocks your returns were usually enhanced but not so recently. The undeveloped country markets known as emerging have also heated up to the tune of almost 14 percent.

Overall, commodities have been behaving themselves with a couple of exceptions. Cattle prices are up almost 25 percent this year. Good for sellers and bad for eaters. Wheat is up about 4 percent, corn a little under 3 percent, oats almost 4 percent.

Things we don’t eat are spotty, lumber is up 13 percent, cotton up over 10 percent, gold almost 8 percent, silver about 3 percent, and copper less than 1 percent.

Coffee is off about 3 percent, soybeans 4.5 percent, hogs almost 7 percent, cocoa is down 15 percent, sugar 16 percent, and orange juice 21 percent.

Weakness in things we don’t eat include the dollar down 3 percent, natural gas down 9 percent, West Texas crude 15 percent, and gasoline about 18 percent.

OK here we are, what should we be doing?

I like reviewing what I own and following some advice someone gave me.

“When you discover you are riding a dead horse, you should dismount.” In my experience investors have difficulty in taking losses.

“As soon as I get even I’ll sell.” My reply is “Where is it written that you are going to get even?”

n Was minding my own business in the man cave the other night when the wife came in and spied me laughing.

“OK, what is so funny?”

I told her I was just looking at an old catalog of Barbie Dolls. Barbie goes shopping is 20 bucks, Barbie goes to the gym is 20 bucks, Barbie goes to the beach is 20 bucks and Divorced Barbie is $265.

“Why $265 for Divorced Barbie,” she asks?”

I said, “Because Divorced Barbie comes with Ken’s house, Ken’s car, Ken’s boat and Ken’s furniture.”

She doesn’t think I’m funny.

Howie Pentony is a client portfolio manager in Portersville.