Morning News

Peabody Calls Off $3.78 Billion Deal to Buy Anglo American's Australian Coal Assets

By Thomas BIANCATO
Published on Wed, 20.Aug.2025

Topic of the day

Peabody Energy said it called off a $3.78 billion agreement to buy Anglo American's steelmaking coal operations due to the shutdown of a mine central to the deal, striking a blow to the U.K. miner's restructuring efforts. Peabody said on Tuesday that it would pull out of the deal due to what it called a material adverse change to Anglo's steelmaking coal assets. Anglo American had agreed to sell its steelmaking coal business - including the Moranbah North mine - to St. Louis-based coal producer Peabody in November. Following a fire at Moranbah North in March, Peabody said it was reviewing the deal. Peabody said the two companies had been unable to reach a revised agreement which compensated Peabody for the long-term impact of the fire on the asset. In response, Anglo American said it would initiate an arbitration process and seek damages, saying no material adverse change had occurred and the mine and equipment sustained no damage. The move is a blow to Anglo American's restructuring efforts. It agreed to sell its Australian steelmaking coal business last year as part of a process to focus on core assets and fend off a takeover bid from rival BHP Group.

Swiss stocks

After a somewhat subdued start, the Switzerland market gained in strength as the session progressed on Tuesday, to eventually closed on a bright note. The benchmark SMI ended up by 140.31 points or 1.16% at 12,212.91. Swatch Group climbed nearly 5%. Adecco gained about 3.6% and Richemont rallied 3%. Kuehne + Nagel and Straumann Holding climbed 2.7% and 2.53%, respectively. Julius Baer and Sika, both gained about 2.2%. Nestle, Logitech International, Sonova, Roche Holding, Partners Group, Lindt & Spruengli, VAT Group, SIG Group, SGS, Sandoz Group, Schindler Ps, Alcon and ABB advanced 1 to 2%. Swiss drug developer Basilea Pharmaceutica plunged 7.6% despite updating its 2025 financial guidance.

International markets

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Tuesday as the mood remained positive amid optimism over a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, after U.S. President Donald Trump described his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders as 'very good'. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.69%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.34%, Germany's DAX ended 0.45% up, and France's CAC 40 closed up by 1.21%, while Switzerland's SMI settled higher by 1.16%. Among other markets in Europe, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Belgium and Iceland ended weak, while Czech Republic closed flat. In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion climbed about 7%. Marks & Spencer, Persimmon, Next, IMI, Diageo, Bunzl, Kingfisher, WPP and Mondi gained 2 to 3.5%. Spirax Group, Barratt Redrow, Howden Joinery, Anglo American Plc, Croda International, Tesco, Taylor Wimpey, DCC, Weir Group and Intercontinental Hotels Group also closed sharply higher. British healthcare estate investor Assura Plc shares gained more than 1.3% as Ed Smith stepped down as chairman of the board after seven years in the role. Babcock International tumbled 7.45%. Fresnillo, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Endeavour Mining lost 2 to 4.2%. BT Group, Airtel Africa, Severn Trent, United Utilities and Melrose Industries also ended notably lower. International Workplace Group shares tanked nearly 17% after the office space provider reported a dip in first-half revenue. In the German market, Puma, Porsche and Zalando gained 3.7 to 4.5%. BASF, Brenntag, Deutsche Post, Continental, Mercedes-Benz, Symrise, Commerzbank, BMW, Daimler Truck Holding, Volkswagen and Siemens climbed 2 to 3%. Rheinmetall tumbled 5%. Siemens Energy closed down 2.4%, while Vonovia, E.ON and Deutsche Boerse closed modestly lower. In the French market, Capgemini, Pernod Ricard, Stellantis, Publicis Groupe, Renault and Saint Gobain gained 3 to 3.5%. Kering and LVMH climbed nearly 3%.

United States
After ending Monday's choppy session little changed, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss, although the Dow ended the day roughly flat. The Nasdaq ended the day just off its lows of the session, tumbling 314.82 points or 1.5 percent to 21,314.95. The S&P 500 also slid 37.78 points or 0.6 percent to 6,411.37. Meanwhile, the Dow inched up 10.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,922.27 after reaching a record intraday high in early trading. The slump by the Nasdaq came amid a weakness in the tech sector, with shares of Nvidia (NVDA) plunging by 3.5 percent. Nvidia told CNBC it is evaluating a 'variety of products' following a Reuters report that the company is developing a new AI chip for China. On the other hand, the Dow benefitted from a surge by shares of Home Depot (HD), as the home improvement retailer shot up by 3.2 percent. The strong gain by Home Depot came after the company maintained its full-year guidance despite reporting second quarter results that came in modestly below analyst estimates. Traders were also looking ahead to some key economic events later in the week, including the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with his remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates. Significant weakness is also visible among software stocks, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index tumbling by 2.0 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Asia
Significant losses in technology stocks are pushing East Asian stock markets sharply into negative territory in mid-week trading. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo and the Kospi in Seoul (-1.6%) are particularly hard hit. Among individual stocks, Samsung Electronics lost 0.2 per cent, SK Hynix slumped 3.8 per cent and TSMC fell around 3 per cent in Taiwan. Advantest shares in Tokyo fell by 6.7 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after trending lower over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.9 basis points to 4.302 percent.

Analysis
Berenberg raises Iberdrola target to EUR 17.50 (14) – Hold
DZ Bank raises Vinci target to EUR 150 (142) – Buy
Warburg raises Uzin Utz target to EUR 83 (80) – Buy

Follow us

Be in the know

Sign up to our newsletter and receive a monthly selection right in your inbox


Sponsors
UEFA Europa LeagueUEFA Women’s EURO 2025Genève ServetteZSC Lions

Be aware of the risk
Trading leveraged products on the Forex platform, such as foreign exchange, spot precious metals and Contracts for Difference (CFDs), involves significant risk of loss due to the leverage and may not be suitable for all investors. Prior to opening an account with Swissquote, consider your level of experience, investment objectives, assets, income and risk appetite. Losses are in theory unlimited and you may be required to make additional payments if your account balance falls below the required margin level and therefore you should not speculate, invest or hedge with capital you cannot afford to lose, that is borrowed or urgently needed or necessary for personal or family subsistence. Over the past 12 months, 76.32% of retail investors have either lost money when trading CFDs, experienced a total loss of their margin at the closing of their position or ended up with a negative balance after closing their position. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts. For more details, including information on the leverage effect, how margins work, and counterparty and market risks, please refer to our Forex and CFD Risk Disclosure. The content of this website represents advertising material and has not been submitted to nor approved by any supervisory authority.

Swissquote MEA Ltd
Regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority

AI-generated content
Some of the visual content on our website has been generated and/or enhanced using artificial intelligence (AI) applications. However, all content undergoes thorough human review and approval to ensure its accuracy, relevance, and compliance with the needs of our users and clients.