Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Banknote printer De La Rue, which also has a contract with the Home Office to print passports, is expected to confirm to the stock market today that it received an audacious bid from the privately owned printer Oberthur Technologies.Oberthur, a 168-year-old company that prints euro notes circulated in the French economy, is majority-owned by the Savare family, who took the business private just over two years ago, the Times reports.The International Monetary Fund has called on the EU authorities to boost their rescue fund and step up bond purchases to insure against a fresh financial crisis in the eurozone periphery. The IMF said the EU's €500bn bail-out machinery was not enough to cope with the magnitude of the threat as Spain and even Italy start to come under pressure, the Telegraph reports.Europe's leaders face fresh splits over how to tackle the eurozone's escalating crisis after being urged to create as rapidly as possible a vast market for joint European government bonds, a move almost certain to be blocked by Germany. Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister who also chairs meetings of eurozone finance ministers, and Giulio Tremonti, Italy's finance minister, argue in Monday's Financial Times that the launch of "E-bonds" would send a clear message to financial markets and European citizens about the "the irreversibility of the euro".Britain's manufacturing sector is still growing strongly and will outstrip the rest of the economy in 2011, according to a closely watched survey to be published this morning. The Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF) reports record growth for the third consecutive quarter, with a balance of plus 33% recording rising output and plus 32% record levels of new orders in the fourth quarter, the Independent reports.Recruitment levels are set to double in 2011, raising fears of a return to pre-recession skills shortages, a report published today reveals. Some 28% of companies are planning to hire extra staff next year, compared with the measly 13% recorded in 2009, according to the consultancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers' survey of more than 1,000 human resources directors, the Independent reports.The Government will publish plans to close Corporation Tax loopholes today, which could help raise an extra £2bn for the exchequer over the next five years. A series of measures are expected from Treasury minister David Gauke as part of government efforts to boost revenues by clamping down on tax avoidance. The plans will raise £2bn and protect another £5bn that was expected to be lost through avoidance, Mr Gauke will tell Parliament, the Independent reports.The Government will be criticised for not charging Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland a high enough fee for the giant insurance scheme for their toxic loans. The criticism will be contained in a report this week on the scheme by the National Audit Office, which will also highlight the millions of pounds spent on lawyers and investment bankers to create the structure. The Treasury charged Lloyds and RBS £2.5bn each for the asset protection scheme created last year, though Lloyds eventually shunned the scheme instead raising more than £20bn from investors, the Times reports.House prices in London may be on the up but the global house price recovery is losing steam, according to Knight Frank. The estate agency said that more than half the countries it had reviewed had "tipped back" into negative growth. In its Global House Price Index for the third quarter of this year, it also said that of the 48 countries it had surveyed, nearly 30% of those that have enjoyed strengthening conditions in 2010 were now reporting a slowdown, if not necessarily falling prices, the Times reports.Economic storm clouds and snowladen real ones have failed to dampen the spirits of Britons as they prepare for Christmas. According to MasterCard's SpendingPulse data, to be released today, retail sales rose by a healthy 3.4% year-on-year in November. Sales last week at John Lewis rose by a resilient 1.2% year-on-year to £103.7bn, although the growth rate was down substantially from the 8.7% seen in the previous week as the Siberian conditions outside kept consumers at home, the Times reports.Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, was expected to open the way for a third blast of bond purchases in a 60 Minutes interview, but any such move is likely to face resistance from Fed hawks and mounting criticism in Congress. Transcripts suggest that Mr Bernanke is sufficiently worried about the risk of an economic relapse next year - and a slide towards deflation - that he is already mulling further "credit easing" or QE3 as it is dubbed. However, Mr Bernanke faces a shift in the balance of power as hard-liners join the Fed's voting body this year, the Telegraph reports.