SoftBank shares rise after pausing Arm’s London listing

In today’s top stories, SoftBank paused Arm’s London IPO, auction house Christie’s launched a venture fund focused on tech and short sellers trimmed back positions in cannabis stocks. Meanwhile, ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood expects automotive stocks to see a decline in value and Twitter accuses Elon Musk of purposefully delaying a court trial.     

SoftBank pauses Arm’s London listing

Japanese investor SoftBank [9984.T] has paused its London listing of Cambridge-based chip designer Arm “because of the political turmoil in the UK”, the Financial Times has reported. The initial plan was to simultaneously float in the capital and New York, though an IPO on the Nasdaq is expected to go ahead as planned. Boris Johnson’s government has been keen for Arm to list in London as it would help to champion British tech.

Christie’s invests in Web3

Christie’s may have been founded in the 1700s, but the renowned auction house’s view of the art world is moving with the time. On Monday, it announced the launch of a venture fund focusing on Web3 and emerging tech and fintech companies developing solutions for the art world, such as reducing friction when moving assets between blockchains. The aim is to advance “Christie’s activities in the presentation, education, and sales of fine art and luxury goods”.

Cannabis short selling dries up

Congress has been slow to take action on cannabis legislation and the industry’s tumbling share prices has led the theme to lose popularity among short sellers. Data from S3 Partners, seen by Bloomberg, shows that short interest in pot stocks has dropped from $3.14bn in May last year to $632m this month. Investors are expecting share prices to continue sliding in the near-term and are waiting for progress on legalisation.

GameStop set for 4-for-1 split

So-called meme stock GameStop [GME] has been racking up huge losses in a bid to stay relevant. Most recently, it has been ploughing money into its recently launched NFT marketplace. Analysts aren’t entirely convinced that the strategic move is a good one. The company will complete a 4-for-1 stock split on Thursday, which it has said will “provide flexibility for future corporate needs”.

Musk’s tactical delay

The war of words between Twitter [TWTR] and Elon Musk has continued as the social media platform accused him of “slow walking” a trial in order to drag it out for as long as possible. "Millions of Twitter shares trade daily under a cloud of Musk-created doubt. No public company of this size and scale has ever had to bear these uncertainties,” the company wrote in a court filing.

Automakers to decline in value

The automotive industry is highly likely to increase in unit sales over the next five years but could see a decline in enterprise value, according to Cathie Wood and research by ARK Invest. There were around 78 million vehicles sold last year and the combined enterprise value of automakers was $3.5trn. Sales will increase by 20 million and enterprise value will fall by around a fifth to $2.8trn.

Royal Mail calls off strike

Workers at Royal Mail [RMG.L] have suspended plans for a three-day strike this week. This news has helped to lift the share price from a 52-week low of 257.43p, set on 30 June, to close at 285p on Tuesday. The company hasn’t exactly been delivering, with the most recent results, released in May, proving to be disappointing. Meanwhile, stamp prices are rising but mail volumes are declining.