Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no changes reported today.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were term deposit rate cuts today from RaboDirect, following the wholesale markets down.
DROUGHT DECLARED
The Government today officially declared the drought conditions on the east coast of the South Island as being "a medium-scale adverse event". That in turn triggered the IRD announcing it will "exercise its income equalisation discretion" to help provide relief for those affected. And ANZ as extended its assistance package to $50 mln, and they said they extend that if demand for help from farmers is high. ANZ's program applies to farmers anywhere suffering from the drought, not just the official regions.
ASB BOLSTERS CAPITAL
Fresh from more than doubling annual dividends, ASB has unveiled a $600 million issue of perpetual preference shares to parent ASB Holdings Ltd, which in turn is owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The issue, to take place on or about March 16, will qualify as Tier 1 capital for ASB's regulatory purposes.
THEY ARE COMING HOME?
Australia's unemployment rose by 35,000 with the rate up to 6.4% from 6.1%. ANZ's Cameron Bagrie noted their weak jobs figures will only add to the turnaround in Trans-Tasman migration. "NZDAUD now at 0.96 as NZ's star shines brighter," he observed.
PMI FALTERS
The seasonally adjusted PMI for January was 50.9 and showing our manufacturing sector treading water. This was 6.2 points lower than the previous month, and the lowest overall result since December 2012. BNZ Senior Economist, Doug Steel, says "January's soft PMI results jar, especially against a backdrop of generally positive economic indicators. We wouldn't leap to conclusions on one (holiday-affected) month's data, but it does question the strength of economic growth early in 2015."
HIGH COUNTRY HIGH
National guest nights for December 2014 were 7.1% higher than for the same month a year ago. This is the ninth consecutive month of rises. Canterbury and Otago were the main regions benefiting from the rise.
SUPPLY SQUEEZE
The stock of housing available for sale is falling, especially in Auckland where it is at an all time low, according to data out today from realestate.co.nz. We have more on this story here.
CHEAP BORROWING
The latest Government bond tender of NZ$300 mln 2027's received bids for NZ$638 mln and produces average weighted yield 60 bps lower than the December 2014 auction (3.35% vs 3.94% previously).
WHOLESALE RATES CONSOLIDATE
After yesterday's sharp rises there were only minor moves in the interest rate swap market today. We have seen a slight easing with a flattening bias, as the market settles. The 90 day bank bill rate was unchanged at3.64%.
NZ DOLLAR CLOSER TO PARITY
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar has gone sideways today overall after the Aussie poor jobs data was released. We went down with them against most so are now at 73.7 USc, but up against the AUD to 96.0 AUc (the record all-time high is 96.4 AUc which we are closing in on again), leaving the TWI still at 77.3.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
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