ECB calls emergency meeting amid market turmoil

Good morning.

Britain’s tech sector has been given a welcome boost this morning after it emerged SoftBank is planning to list some of its stake in chip designer Arm in London.

The Japanese conglomerate had been preparing an initial public offering in New York after a $40bn (£30bn) sale to Nvidia was blocked on national security grounds.

But it’s now looking at listing some of its stake in London, Bloomberg reports. That follows pressure from Boris Johnson and campaigning by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to keep the British tech giant based in the UK.

It could be a major coup for the Government, which has faced pressure to prevent Cambridge-based Arm from falling victim to a foreign takeover.

5 things to start your day 

1) Helium airships to fly across Spain after British maker lands breakthrough $600m deal  Air Nostrum hopes to have its 100-seat vehicle running on its short-haul routes by 2026 

2) Forecast blunder leaves students £1,200 worse off  New students left with lowest living cost support in seven years thanks to mistake

3) BT boss discussed plan to starve Phones 4U, court told  Head of phone company’s consumer arm denies allegations of scheming with rivals to destroy retailer 

4) More holiday misery on horizon as airlines ordered to cancel summer flights  Industry urged to cut flights they cannot deliver amid severe staff shortages

5) Coinbase cuts 1,100 crypto jobs as Bitcoin plunges 10pc  Chief executive Brian Armstrong warns of ‘crypto winter’ as digital currencies slump

What happened overnight 

Tokyo stocks opened down in cautious trade ahead of a key US Federal Reserve decision.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.2pc. Hong Kong shares kicked off with small gains. The Hang Seng Index added 0.2pc.

The Shanghai Composite Index ticked up 0.2pc, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange was also up 0.2pc.

Coming up today

• Corporate: Whitbread, WHSmith (trading statement)
• Economics: Fed interest rate decision (US), retail sales (US, China), industrial production (EU, China)