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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; online sales rise, incomes rise, commodity prices rise, FMA struggles to hold its people, swap rates unchanged

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; online sales rise, incomes rise, commodity prices rise, FMA struggles to hold its people, swap rates unchanged

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There are no changes to report today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
The Treasury’s Kiwi Bond product has had its rates cut today from 2.50% to 2.25%. If you are on the maximum marginal tax rate; that means the after tax return is now only 1.5%. The Napier Building Society also cut its 1 year term deposit rate. 

WE LIKE OFFSHORE BUYING
Online spending at international websites is still running strong - up +21% on August 2014 (partly due to NZD effects). Online spending at local merchants is up +5% on August last year. International merchants accounted for 45% of online spending in August, well up on the 35% level prevailing 3 years ago.

REAL INCOMES RISING
Weekly median income from all sources was up +4.3% in the year to June according to Statistics NZ. Median hourly earnings were up +3.8%. These sorts of increases are much higher than the inflation rate and are evidence of rising demand for labour.

RISING COMMODITY PRICES
The ANZ Commodity Price Index rose for the first time since March, increasing by +5.5% in September. Dairy and aluminium drove the increase in the overall index, while falls were seen across the remaining four major commodity groups. The NZD index strengthened +9.3% (+2.7% y/y), the fifth strongest monthly increase on record.

A GOOD NEWS WEEK ?
Next week will see some major data released. Firstly we get the US non-farm payrolls report early tomorrow morning, and a positive ‘surprise’ is as likely as any other outcome. Then early Wednesday is the next dairy auction. Indications are also for a positive result. And perhaps on Monday, Barfoots will report their September sales and prices.

HIGH TURNOVER AT THE FMA
The Financial Markets Authority issued its annual report today. It shows 21.5% staff turnover in the June year, only slightly down from 21.8% in the previous year. Total staff numbered 167 this year, up three year-on-year. Annual revenue was $30.2 million with spending/costs of $32.7 million. The FMA said the $2.5 million deficit was covered by accumulated funds. 

WHOLESALE RATES
There have been no changes to wholesale swap rates today. And the 90 day bank bill rate is still at 2.83%

NZ DOLLAR HIGHER
The Kiwi dollar has moved only with a very narrow band today. It is currently at 64 USc, 91 AUc and 57.2 euro cents  TWI5 is 68.8.  Check our real-time charts here.

GO THE ABs ( AND THE WALLABIES ! )

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

Daily exchange rates

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Source: RBNZ
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End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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1 Comments

So much for the US rate rise - http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34426700. I like to judge the US economy (simple I admit) by the fortunes of Caterpillar, a superb company that has struggled of late.

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