MORNING BID EUROPE-Macron stretches lead before French vote

* A look at the day ahead from European Economics and Politics Editor Mark John and EMEA markets editor Mike Dolan. The views expressed are their own.

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Tonight marks the end of official campaigning in France's presidential election, with final polls suggesting centrist Emmanuel Macron has stretched out his lead over Marine Le Pen (Other OTC: PENC - news) to around 62-38. Macron has come out relatively unscathed from Wednesday's bad-tempered TV debate and has survived a couple of "fake news" attempts on social media to derail his candidacy. The main threat to his presidency bid now is a low turnout coupled with the phenomenon of voters casting a blank ballot - particularly prevalent among hard-left voters eschewing a choice between what they say is "fascism or finance".

Europe's other big vote this year is Germany's general election in September. That will be preceded by a series of separate state elections in the country's "Laender" regions that will be bellwethers for the national contest. Today Angela Merkel heads to the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein up by the Danish border to campaign for voters there to oust the current leadership of the rival centre-left SPD party in a poll on Sunday. The SPD received a boost to its electoral fortunes earlier this year with the arrival of new leader Martin Schulz but since then his novelty value has worn off and Merkel's conservatives have seen their national ratings rise. If the SPD is to pose a serious threat in September, they must show they can perform well in these local tests.

Britain's ruling Conservatives meanwile have gained more than 100 local council seats across England and Wales, early results show, suggesting Prime Minister Theresa May could increase her majority in a June 8 national election. Aside from that not looking good for the main opposition Labour Party, the other take-home at this stage looks to be a collapse in the vote for the eurosceptic UKIP party, increasingly seen as an irrelevance after Brexit. There is one main beneficiary of that - Theresa May.

MARKETS AT 0655 GMT Oil prices are on the slide again, weighing on energy-linked shares and commodity currencies and pushing investors towards safe havens such as gold and the Japanese yen.

Later in the day, investors will focus on the monthly U.S. jobs report. A strong number – economists polled by Reuters forecast 185,000 jobs were added last month – will be seen as bolstering already high expectations for a Federal reserve interest rate rise next month.

Brent crude is off its lows for the day but down 1.8 percent at around $47.50 a barrel. It earlier hit $46.64, its lowest since late November. That clobbered the S&P 500 energy sector index, which fell 1.9 percent as U.S. stocks ended broadly flat, and is hitting commodity related currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars. The Norwegian crown is down against the euro.

The yen, though is up 0.3 percent at 112.10 per dollar, while the euro is down 0.1 percent around $1.0980, having earlier hit a 6-month high of $1.0990 as opinion polls show centrist Emmanuel Macron extending his lead over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen before Sunday’s run-off vote in the French presidential election.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, is marginally lower. Treasury yields rose on Thursday after some forecast-beating U.S. data but are now slightly lower on the day, as are yields on low-risk German Bunds.

The drop in oil prices is seen weighing on European shares at the open on the last day of a strong week where easing political worries combined with positive earnings surprises and buoyant macro data to push the market to fresh highs. Futures on main regional indexes were down 0.1-0.3 with commodity exposed FTSE slightly underperforming.

The STOXX 600 ended the previous session at fresh 20-month highs and is on track to end the week up more than 1 percent. German blue chips are at record highs and France's CAC is at its highest level in more than 9 years.

Company results will again be in focus. Almost half of European companies have reported their earnings so far with 74 percent beating analyst expectations and 6 percent meeting them, pointing to an overall earnings growth of nearly 17 percent in the first quarter of this year. On Friday, investors will digest results from British Airways owner IAG, French gas and power group Engie (LSE: 0LD0.L - news) and Spanish bank Banco Popular.

Potential stock movers: BHP investor Tribeca calls for sale of U.S. shale assets, board shake-up; ChemChina clinches $43 billion takeover of Syngenta; BA-owner IAG posts operating profit, revenue ahead of expectations; Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) names Archie Norman as new chairman; Engie Q1 earnings down on lower hydro output, nuclear plant closure; Spain's Banco popular posts Q1 loss of 137 million euros; Telefonica Deutschland Q1 core profit misses expectations; Elliot Advisors says Akzo to lose four times as many jobs without PPG takeover; Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) launches new cost cutting drive, may sell K12 (Frankfurt: 3KA.F - news) business; Evonik Q1 core profit up 8 percent on demand for tyre silica, additives; Swiss pharmacy group Zur Rose says looking at possible IPO; Erste Group Bank's net profit falls as administrative costs rise; SNC (Shenzhen: 002246.SZ - news) -Lavalin CEO says Elliott's stake not an "obstacle" to Atkins deal; Monte dei Paschi (Milan: BMPS.MI - news) core capital fell to 6.5 pct in Q1; Ambev sees cost pressure easing in weak Brazil market.

MSCI’s main Asia-Pacific stock index, excluding Japan, is down 0.8 percent, Tokyo stocks are closed for a holiday while lower commodities and worries over more regulation have pushed Chinese shares to three-month lows.

Emerging market stocks are down 0.7 percent to 10-day lows after the commodity price rout and the rise in U.S. yields. The MSCI (Frankfurt: 3HM.F - news) index is set for a weekly loss after two weeks of gains, led by 1 percent loss in Hong Kong shares.

Other commodity currencies under pressure include the rand at three week lows and the rouble at seven week lows after oil’s sharp decline. The rouble is down 0.7 percent adding to Thursday’s 1.7 percent fall.

Polish Q1 GDP is due and will show if emerging markets’ robust economic recovery continues. Investors will also watch developments in Nigeria where the central bank has said it will release more dollars to ease a liquidity crunch and help unify the parallel exchange rates.

Gold is up 0.4 percent at $1,232 an ounce but still headed for its worst week since November.

* ASEAN finance ministers and central bankers meet in Tokyo, 2nd day

* Europe corp events: Erste Group, Smurfit Kappa (Frankfurt: SK3.F - news) , Intesa Sanpaolo, Vestas, EDP

* EU Commission chief Juncker, EU Council chief Tusk speak in Florence

* Spain, Sweden March industrial output

* EZ March retail sales

* Poland Q1 GDP

* Czech April inflation

* US Q1 earnings: Moody’s

* US, Canada April employment reports

* Fed Vice Chair Fischer speaks in Stanford, California; San Francisco Fed chief Williams speaks in NYC

* S&P to review sovereign credit ratings of Italy, Turkey, Georgia; Fitch to review UK; Moody’s Portugal and Malta

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)