Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There was only one rate change today and that was from BNZ who adopted the 3 year 6.19% fixed rate that both Westpac and Co-op Bank already have.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
F&P Finance today raised their term deposit offers across the board. For 6 months, they have raised it +50 bps to 4.60%, for one year the rise is +45 bps to 4.95%, and for five years their new rate is 6.10%, up 50 bps from 5.60%.
BIG KAURI GETS BIGGER
German bank Rentenbank (Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank) has increased its NZD kauri bond offer by $200 mln to $800 mln and this March 2019 bond will yield 4.486% to investors.
A $47 BLN TEN YEAR SPENDING PLAN
Auckland's mayor has proposed his Ten Year Plan which was released today. That sees a capital program of $16.3 bln over the ten year period, rates rises of +3.5% per year, and total operational spending of $40.3 bln ($6.8 bln of which is for 'governance and support').
HANDS WERE OFF
The RBNZ spent nothing in July trying to get the NZ dollar to weaken, data released by them today shows. This was as expected. But there will be real interest in the August data when it is published in about a month to see whether the recent declines were pushed along by RBNZ activity.
WESTLAND CUTS PAYOUT GUIDANCE
Farmer-shareholders of the dairy co-op Westland Milk Products will be watching spending very closely as the country’s number two dairy cooperative has cut 60 cents per kilogram of Milksolids (kg/MS) to a range of $5.40 - $5.80 kg/MS before retentions. That's lower than what Fonterra re-confirmed yesterday.
AUSSIE BUMPS
Australian data out today went both ways. Their private capital expenditure data was weak but no where near as weak as markets were expecting. But new home sales data was much worse than was expected. Of course, all this is overshadowed by the huge loss Qantas reported today. Jetstar and their international routes are in terrible shape. Their domestic routes are also failing, barely scraping up an operational profit after being the bedrock on which the airline is based.
WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates were down marginally again at the long end, which continues the flattening. Todays shifts follow the track started on Wall Street and London overnight. The professional bond markets are starting to think about the prospect of a rate inversion although most don't see it actually happening without something odd happening. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +1 bp at 3.70%.
OUR CURRENCY
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar rose today and briefly went over 84 USc although it down below that now at 83.9 USc, now at 89.6 AUc and the TWI is at 79.0.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
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