A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; car sales booming, QV house price rises pick up, rental yields sink, commodity prices edge lower, Len TV, rates unchanged

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no changes announced today - so far.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATES DROP
Both the Nelson Building Society and NZCU Baywide have trimmed their term deposit rates back a bit today. We think a big bank will also announce more term deposit rate cuts tomorrow.

FAST CARS
The January new car sales have surprised the industry at their strength. In fact they were at record levels for a January. Car dealers are saying that demand is not slackening. We will get to see January used import sales levels in a few days and these are also expected to be strong.

TWO SPEED
Quotable Value says average home values rose +11.6% in Auckland over last 12 months but were only up +0.8% in Wellington and +3.4% in Christchurch. Nationally, that averages out at +5.7% and is a slight rise in January almost all due to the Auckland effect. Adding to the buoyancy in the top half of the North Island are some signs of a pick-up in house price inflation in parts of Northland and Waikato as well.

WE ARE BEING SEDUCED
The global payments companies Visa and MasterCard are talking kiwis into using their networks more with their contactless 'tap and go' systems. Our love affair with the very inexpensive EFTPOS system has kept them out of our wallets until now but the convenience of swiping to pay is catching on quickly. Everyone needs to move fast because ApplePay is coming and overseas that is generating a huge shakeup.

TAX AVOIDER WANTS TO BORROW
Apple is seeking up to US$6.5 billion in another bond issue. This is an oddity because this is a company that has US$160 bln in cash reserves. So why would they need to borrow? The answer is found in the US tax laws. Most of their cash is piling up overseas and if Apple repatriate it they will need to pay tax on those earnings in the US. So they don't. This is one key reason for updated corporate taxing provisions in President Obama's latest US$4 tln budget. And we should look at this whole mess and be thankful our tax systems create far less distortions and unintended consequences with their relative simplicity.

SKINNIER YIELDS
This is something we should have included yesterday, but it is still relevant for today. The latest REINZ/interest.co.nz Yield Indicator Report details the track of gross yield returns on rental property in 40 separate New Zealand markets and reveals the slide that started about a year ago has continued.

CHEAPER ELECTRICITY FOR SOME
Mighty River Power today announced that Community Services Card holders will be eligible for cut-price rates for electricity through its hi-tech GLOBUG pre-pay service.

LOWER AGAIN
January commodity prices fell but by only a smidge in either world price or NZD terms in January. However over the past twelve months the decline adds up to almost -19%.

OFF ITS LOWS
The oil price has crept back up to US$50/barrel today for WTI, and the Brent and Dubai prices have risen equivalently.

LEN TV
I wonder how gripping it will be. Live-streaming and on-demand footage of Auckland Council’ Governing Body and main committee meetings will be available on the council’s website from Thursday, as part of a new webcasting service. But it is a tick for transparency.

WILL HE OR WON'T HE?
Check back here in half and hour to see what the RBA has decided to do with its cash rate target. Most think there will be no change - even no change to the RBA rhetoric - but a cut is still a distinct possibility. Update: He did. the Aussie cash rate is now 2.25%, after a 25 bps cut.

WHOLESALE RATES UNCHANGED
New Zealand wholesale swap rates are unchanged today after yesterday's -5 bps fall. Markets are waiting for signals from the Wheeler speech tomorrow. The 90 day bank bill rate is also unchanged.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDS
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar is also unchanged. It is now at 73 USc, at 93.5 AUc, and the TWI is now at 76.3.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.