Anglo American signed a deal to sell its remaining steelmaking coal assets to U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy for up to $3.775 billion, in the mining giant’s first major step in its large-scale business reshaping. The global, diversified miner is under pressure to implement the restructuring plan it outlined in May to fend off a nearly $50 billion takeover bid from rival BHP. This will see the London-listed company become a solely copper, iron-ore and crop-nutrients producer, as it carves out its coal, diamond, nickel and platinum segments. The sale of its remaining coal business to Missouri-based Peabody Energy is an important step toward delivering the strategy, Chief Executive Duncan Wanblad said Monday. Anglo American said the deal takes the total sales value of its coal business to up to $4.9 billion, following the $1.1-billion sale of its stakes in two mines in Australia earlier this month. The market had estimated the remaining coal business to be worth around $2.8 billion, according to RBC Capital Markets. Shares rose 2% to 24.07 pounds in early morning trade in London, taking the year to date gain to 22%.

The Switzerland market ended weak on Monday, bucking the largely positive trend in Europe, as investors refrained from making significant moves. The market digested the nation's non-farm payroll data and looked ahead to the GDP report due later in the week. The benchmark SMI climbed higher after opening slightly down, but slipped into negative territory around late morning and stayed weak till the end of the session. The index, which advanced to 11,766.18 in early trades, closed down 37.91 points or 0.32% at 11,678.59. Sonova and Novartis both ended nearly 1.9% down. Holcim, Swiss Life Holding, Givaudan, Alcon, ABB, Kuehne + Nagel and Roche Holding closed down 0.3 to 1.2%. Julius Baer closed up 2.1% and VAT Group ended 2.07% up. Logitech International climbed 1.66% and Adecco gained about 1.4%. Lonza Group, Swatch Group, Swiss Re, Straumann Holdings, Schindler Ps and Lindt & Spruengli gained 0.4 to 1%. Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's non-farm payrolls rose by 1.2% year-on-year to a record 5.528 million in the third quarter of 2024, following a 1.3% increase in the previous three-month period.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Monday with investors reacting positively to news U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. Bessent, who is supportive of the equity markets, is also a known advocate for deficit reduction. His view that Trump's proposed tariff increases should be implemented gradually is expected to reduce the impact of inflation. 'Bessent is seen as being less aggressive on tariffs than some of the rhetoric espoused by Trump on the campaign trail,' according to AJ Bell Investment director Russ Mould. The positive sentiment in the market was also due to expectations of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank after the central bank's chief economist Phillip Lane said that monetary policy should not remain restrictive for too long and that the job is not done yet on inflation. Shares of automakers moved higher in the wake of reports that China and the EU are nearing a solution over eliminating tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports into the bloc. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.06%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.36%, Germany's DAX gained 0.43% and France's CAC 40 crept up 0.03%. Switzerland's SMI closed down 0.32%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed higher. Denmark, Iceland and Russia ended weak, while Netherlands and Sweden closed flat. In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion shares soared 10% following a rating upgrade. Entain rallied 5.56% and EasyJet climbed about 4.25%. Barratt Redrow, Prudential, IAG, Vistry Group, 3i Group, Halma, Barclays Group, BT Group, Glencore, Centrica, Persimmon, Standard Chartered, Frasers Group, Spirax Group, ICG and Hikma Pharmaceuticals gained 1.5 to 4%. Anglo American Plc shares found some support after Peabody Energy won a hotly contested battle to buy the miner's steelmaking coal mines in Australia for $3.78bn. Rentokil Initial gained nearly 2% The commercial pest control services company announced that Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson will join the Board as Chief Financial Officer, with effect from January 1, 2025.

United States
After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday but managed to close mostly higher. While the major averages pulled back off their best levels of the day, the Dow still reached a new record closing high. The Dow closed higher for the fourth consecutive session, jumping 440.06 points or 1.0 percent to 44,736.57. The S&P 500 extended its winning streak to six sessions, climbing 18.03 points or 0.3 percent to 5,987.37, while the Nasdaq rose 51.18 points or 0.3 percent to 19,054.84. Bath & Body Works stock climbed Monday after the company raised its guidance on the back of better-than-expected earnings. The retailer of fragrances and other home goods reported an adjusted profit of 49 cents a share, beating the FactSet consensus estimate for 47 cents, on sales of $1.61 billion, which topped Wall Street’s expectations for $1.58 billion. Bath & Body Works raised fiscal-year guidance for earnings per share to a range from $3.46 to $3.59, up from $3.37 to $3.57, with adjusted earnings per share of $3.15 to $3.28, up from $3.06 to $3.26. Macy’s delayed its quarterly results after the company discovered that an employee had hidden up to $154 million in corporate delivery expenses over several years, prompting an investigation. The retailer said Monday that a single employee, responsible for small-package delivery expense accounting, had intentionally made erroneous bookkeeping entries since late 2021. The individual didn’t pocket the amounts in question and the company declined to say how it uncovered the erroneous entries or how it went undetected by the company’s auditor, KPMG. Macy’s said it would provide details on its investigation when it reports quarterly results on Dec. 11.

Asia
The majority of stock markets in East Asia and Australia fell on Tuesday. Against this backdrop, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo stock exchange fell by 1.6 per cent to 38,175 points. Concerns about US tariffs are particularly weighing on export stocks such as the automotive sector. Nissan Motor lost 3.5 per cent and Honda Motor fell by 2.8 per cent. Shares in Mitsubishi Corp fell by 3.8 per cent.

Bonds
In the U. S. Bond market, treasuries moved sharply higher in reaction to Trump's Treasury Secretary pick. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, plunged 14.5 basis points to 4.265 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers Vodafone target to 70 (77) GBp – Neutral
Deutsche Bank raises Vestas to Buy (Hold)
Deutsche Bank lowers H&M target to EUR 190 (200) – Buy

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