Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
United Credit Union's floating mortgage rate increased from 5.75% to 6.35% today.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Liberty Financial deposit rates changed today with 3 mth rates down 5 bps while all other terms (6mths to 5yrs) are up between 5 bps and 15 bps
MOMENTUM IN JOB MARKET COOLING
Job advertising was considerably weaker compared to last month and there are signs the job market is running out of puff according to the latest ANZ Job Ads data.
LABOUR FOCUSES TODAY'S PROMISES ON DUNEDIN
The party says it will add 3,000 jobs to the Dunedin economy, re-open the Hillside railway workshops, and keep Invermay as a full AgResearch centre
50,000 MIGRANTS A YEAR ?
New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted net gain (more arrivals than departures) of 4,500 migrants in July 2014. This is the highest net gain since the record of 4,700 migrants in February 2003. Kiwi's are no longer flooding to the lucky country as they have been. In July there were only 79 more people moving to Australia than coming the other way. In fact, the data shows that among citizens, 427 more people left in July than arrived from Australia. But for non-citizens there were 348 more people coming to New Zealand from across the ditch than going the other way. NZ is no longer the back-door way into Australia - in fact Australia is the backdoor way into New Zealand !
CONFIDENCE SHORT-LIVED
After rebounding in June-July the latest Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence survey is sitting at a 10-month low in August. Consumers remain confident but are not quite as upbeat as they were a few months ago.
RECORD TOURIST LEVELS IN JULY
Latest migration numbers from Stats NZ shows NZ experienced the highest number of visitors ever for the month of July.
CREDIT CARD USE SLOWS
Credit card balances in July fell to $6.1 billion, the lowest level in six months, and +4.1% above the same month a year earlier. We are paying interest on 65.9% of those balances. But the approved limits keep on rising and are now at $20.44 bln, a new record. Banks continue to press more credit capacity on to cardholders.
CHINESE FACTORY PMI FALLS
The flash HSBC PMI for China came in weaker at 50.3 than markets were expecting (at 51.5).
AMP INCREASES PROFITS
Another Aussie insurer announced profits for their New Zealand division today. AMP said they made $59.4 mln in the half year to June 2014.
WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates managed a much more assertive firming trend today. One year swap rates rose +1 bp, two years rose +2 bps, three and four years rose +3 bps and 5, 7 and 10 yrs rose +4 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate did not follow and is unchanged at 3.69%.
OUR CURRENCY
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar rose marginally today. It is now at 84.6 USc. It is at 90.4 AUc and the TWI is at 78.9.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
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