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Brent crude has ticked up this morning, currently trading 1% higher at $52.47 a barrel. The rise comes after last week's sharp fall as data showed oil stocks remained high despite oil cartel Opec's decision to cut production at the start of the year.

Investors now expect Opec and other producers to continue to keep production lower for another six months.

"This no longer comes as any surprise, given that the influential Arab Gulf neighbouring states had last week already expressed support for an extension to the agreed cuts," Commerzbank said in a note.  

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Qatar Airways will sign a deal to buy a stake in Italian carrier Meridiana in the "next couple of days", chief executive Akbar Al Baker says. 

The airline will not reduce flight frequency to the United States, he adds. Rival Gulf carrier Emirates said last week it was cutting flights on five US routes after restrictions imposed by the Trump administration weakened demand from the Middle East. 

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German business confidence hit its highest level for almost six years in April. The closely watched business confidence index rose to 112.9 points, its highest level since July 2011 and better than analysts had forecast.

ING Diba bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said: "Earlier reforms, low interest rates, a weak euro and strong private and public consumption" meant that "not only the German economy, but the entire eurozone economy could become the positive growth surprise of 2017."

However, the survey showed that firms were slightly less confident on the future outlook.

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Markets are rallying today, with French bond yields falling as investors see Emmanuel Macron's first-round win seen as reducing the risk of an anti-establishment shock in the final round.

However, Royal London Asset Management warns the volatile period for bonds isn't over yet.

"Should Macron take victory in the second round, the long term question of whether European government bond prices, particularly in longer dated assets, represents fair value remains to be seen," says Craig Inches, its head of short rates and cash.

He warns that the European Central Bank, which holds its monthly interest rate meeting on Thursday, will begin to raise rates this year.

Then "markets could see much larger long term moves in bond yields than any political shocks could create", Mr Inches adds. 

The rally in banks has pushed European share indexes to their highest levels in more than a year, while volatility and safe-haven gold stocks slumped.

"The risk of a europhobic president has been lifted for markets. I think there will be a period of relief," said Pascale Auclair, global head of investment at La Francaise Asset Management. 

In London the FTSE 100 is still up 1.8%, while the UK-focused FTSE 250 set a new record, up 1%.

Frankfurt's Dax also  gained ground to set a new intraday record, up 2.9%, while the Cac in Paris is now up 4.3%.

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British companies have unveiled plans to test driverless cars on city roads and motorways in the UK, for the first time. 

The Driven Consortium, backed by government funds and headed up by AI firm Oxbotica, external, intends to put vehicles through their paces between London and Oxford, with six vehicles deployed by 2019. 

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The strength of the euro today has hit sterling, with the pound reversing nearly all of last week's gains to be trading at 84.76 pence - down 1.2%.

But it's a better story against the dollar, with sterling trading at about $1.2805. 

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John Glover is the boss of Bywaters Recycling, one of London's biggest recycling firms. After switching to Royal Bank of Scotland in 2011, the company was put into its controversial Global Restructuring Group the following year after applying for a bigger overdraft. That move triggered fees which cost the firm £15,000 a week.

Mr Glover tells Wake Up To Money that Bywaters has had no redress from RBS and he wants a public apology from RBS chief executive Ross McEwan. 

RBS said: "We extended considerable forbearance and extensive support to [Bywaters] over a number of years, despite breaches to their loan agreements, continued underperformance against management plans and the sale of assets without either informing the bank or using the proceeds to repay their loans."

In early 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority commissioned a report into the way RBS has treated businesses, but that report could still be a year away.   

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"We are committed to making sure that markets work better," the Defence Secretary and former Energy Secretary Sir Michael Fallon tells BBC's Today programme.

"We haven't seen the competition we were hoping for emerge," he says to explain his decision the Conservative party's pledge to introduce a cap on energy prices in their election manifesto.

Investors are clearly betting on a Tory win with shares in listed energy firms Centrica and SSE both down around 3% against a rising FTSE index. 

The FTSE 100 may be up 1.6% at 7,228.48 but don't forget a lot the rise reflects last week's bad performance, says Spreadex analyst Conor Campbell.

"It has a way to go before it has recovered all of last week’s losses," he says. 

Centrica is the biggest faller on the FTSE, down close to 5% in the wake of ministers' talk about capping energy bills, while another of the Big Six - SSE - is down 2.8%. 

There are just two other falls on the 100 thus far: Randgold Resources and silver miner Fresnillo.

Barclays, Standard Chartered and RBS are among the biggest risers.

Neil Wilson at ETX Capital says the euro is enjoying its best daily gain for almost a year, back around the level it was in November before the US presidential election.

He comments: "The yield on French government debt plunged as markets repriced the risks of ‘Frexit’ and start to be able to put political risk to one side for the time being. Yet there are continued risks. Assuming Macron goes on to win the second round, he will have a tough task assembling a government and pushing through the reforms the French economy needs.

"We can at least stick some of the big political risk to one side for a while, but with a major election in Italy looming there is considerable tail risk. Greece also remains a significant challenge.”

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Five-a-side football business Goals Soccer Centres confirms it is in takeover talks with rival Powerleague.

A tie-up was one of a number of "strategic opportunities" being assessed by the board, Goals said.

At the start of the year the firm said it had "turned the corner" following a strong second half.

Goals launched a new strategic plan last year following a major review of its operations. That followed an annual loss in 2015 - its first in 12 years.

Shares are 3.4% higher today - but the company is still only worth about £80m.

Some breaking news from the bond markets now. The premium investors demand to hold French bonds over German debt tightened sharply in the wake of Macron's win as safe-haven bets were unwound.

Yields on French 10-year government bonds slid 13 basis points to 0.76%, while the yield on Germany's 10-year bonds rose 10 basis points to 0.34%. 

The gap between the two - a barometer in recent months of French election risks - has narrowed to about 43 basis points, down from about 62 points on Friday, and its tightest since January. 

The difference for two-year bonds narrowed to about 29 basis points.

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Conservative plans for a cap on household energy bills will end up hurting consumers, according to one of the UK's biggest providers.

Keith Anderson, chief corporate officer of Scottish Power, tells the BBC -  somewhat predictably perhaps - that such a cap on prices could “stop competition” and “actually damage customers in the long run”.

A cap on household energy bills is set to be included in the Conservative manifesto, Work and Pensions secretary Damian Green has said.

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Shares in French banks are soaring in the wake of Macron's first round win.

Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are both more than 10% higher, while BNP Paribas is up about 9%.

The Dax in Frankfurt is also benefitting, adding about 2% so far.

The London market has opened about 100 points, or 1.4%, higher at 7,213 points.

The real action is in Paris, however, where the CAC has jumped more than 4%.

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Former BP boss Tony Hayward will leave oil company Genel Energy on 6 June.

He was chairman of the firm, which last month wrote down the value of its exploration assets by almost $780m and said  losses had widened slightly to $1.3bn. 

Stephen Whyte will replace him.

"Genel has operated in a very tough environment in recent years but I believe the company has renewed momentum and significant opportunities in the portfolio," he said. 

"As the environment now improves, I look forward to working with the Board to ensure that Genel has the best possible strategy for the future."

Genel shares have slumped 92% since it floated in June 2011, leaving it worth just over £200m. 

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