By Simon Hunt

Copyright cityam

Good morning from the City AM liveblog team.

The government’s growth ambitions were dealt another hammer blow last night, after US pharma giant Merck pulled the plug on a planned £1bn research facility in King’s Cross after warning the UK was losing its international competitiveness.

Elsewhere, defence stocks rallied across Europe, adding billions of pounds to the market caps of the biggest contractors, as tensions with Russia were exacerbated by the shock discovery of Russian drones in Polish airspace.

Meanwhile in the US, buy now pay later business Klarna saw its stock jump more than 20 per cent after the Swedish tech firm finally made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

Here’s a look at some of our other top stories from yesterday:

CBI boss calls for Rachel Reeves to break Labour’s tax pledge

Profit slashed at Mike Ashley-backed Hugo Boss

ABF: Primark owner’s shares sink as sales slow at FTSE 100 giant

Starling Bank eyes £4bn valuation in secondary share sale

Pisces rival claims LSE won’t offer firms enough trading volume

Revealed: How much profit Amazon makes in the UK

This morning, we’re expecting results from gambling software business Playtech as well as building merchant firm Lords.