Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no home loan changes today.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Gold Band Finance is back taking deposits and today tweaked rates in part of its offer. BNZ cut -5 bps off its 9 month offer to 4.20%
SURPLUS CLOSER
Today Treasury reported a NZ$448 mln OBEGAL Budget surplus in the 10 months to April. Corporate taxes paid, GST, and SOE results all came in better than forecast. Bill English said the outlook is a bit better; and a surplus for the full 2014/15 fiscal year is still possible, but it 'will be a close run thing'.
"METEORIC"
Average residential property values across the country rose by 9% in the 12 months to May and in Auckland they were up 16.1%, according to the latest figures from Quotable Value.
NOT SO GOOD
Manufacturing sales were lower in the first quarter of 2015 but few observers were surprised. This was the largest annual fall in five years. Lower dairy and petroleum prices influenced sales values this quarter. Stocks are falling too. But when price changes are removed, sales volumes rose a modest +0.4%.
MORE YELLOW WOE
BusinessDesk is reporting that creditors of NZ Directories Holdings, the owner of the Yellow directories service, will vote next week on a plan to wind up the company, putting the assets into a new vehicle which would issue them with securities in return for relinquishing claims to $385 million of debt.
'MISSING IN ACTION'
ANZ's independent monthly monitoring of inflation for May shows a second consecutive month where prices fell. ANZ really wants an OCR cut. But their review did not look forward, nor reveal the rate sans-food, sans-petrol, which the RBNZ looks at.
'TOUCHING THE BRAKES'
ANZ's monthly Truckometer review of heavy and light truck freight volumes has turned less bullish. It is still high but they say "While the Heavy Traffic Index suggests a respectable Q1 GDP outturn, with two of three months in, the signals for the second quarter are soft. Unless we see a large bounce-back in the June month, the index will predict a fall in GDP in Q2. Some of this is undoubtedly the impact of the drought and reduced agriculture production (though the late-season recovery was better than anticipated). The Light Traffic Index is more upbeat but is also losing steam."
WHOLESALE RATES SLIP
Interest rate swaps have fallen back today giving up a little of its recent gains. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 3.46%. However, NZ Govt bond yields are higher by +4 bps.
NZ DOLLAR DON'T
Our currency value changed little during the day today after last nights 1c rise. The New Zealand dollar is still at 71.3 USc, 92.8 AUc, 63 euro cents, and the TWI-5 is at 75.2 Check our real-time charts here.
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2 Comments
Peak House. Grab all the immigrants while you - competition is going to heat up.
"German births per 1,000 population have fallen to roughly 8.2 — below even Japan's 8.4. The death rate, meanwhile, is about 11 per 1,000. So Germany's fabled workforce will soon go into a tailspin that will be almost impossible to pull out of, according to the study by Hamburg's World Economy Institute.
But Germany isn't alone; its decline is the Western world's in miniature. As the chart shows, the population of the Big Five powers — the U.S., the EU, China, Japan and Russia — will peak in 2029 and then start a long, irreversible decline."
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/060215-755441-wests-way-of-lif…
"But the surrounding houses and farms, the ancient stone church and the village playground all stand empty. Mr López alone has held out, together with his 400-strong flock of sheep and a pack of scruffy dogs.
“You get used to the loneliness,” says Mr López, 76, as he watches his sheep graze on the meadow above Motos. Besides, he adds, “there is nothing better than a man alone who can live with himself”.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/09fde45a-8053-11e4-9907-00144feabdc0.html#sli…
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