A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; WMP sinks, births and deaths up, big bond issue signaled, good NZ Super returns, swaps slip, NZD unchanged

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no rate changes today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
The Cooperative Bank reduced an at-call rate and a rate for their online saver.

GOING THE WRONG WAY
Fonterra's $4.60 milk price forecast is under pressure as Whole Milk Powder prices slide another 11% in the latest dairy auction where prices overall were down -7.9%.

COMINGS & GOINGS
After a steady seven year decline, data out today from Statistics NZ suggests that our birth rate may be trending up. It is now 13.2 live births per 1000 population, the second consecutive quarterly rise. We haven't had such a consecutive rise since 2007. Oddly, our death rate is on the rise as well, nearly 7 per 1000, and the highest since 2004.

NORMAL SELLING, SOME LOWER PRICES
There were 135 farms of all types sold in October, an average level for an October. About the only unusual point of interest in this data is that the REINZ dairy farm index (which adjusts for size, season, $/ha, and what equipment of livestock was included in the sale) was down -19% year on year.

PROVINCIAL STRENGTH
Lifestyle block sales continue to run at high levels with 725 blocks some in October. The main exceptions were in Auckland and Canterbury where sales levels were weaker.

TOPPING OUT
New mortgage approvals were steady at 6,503 compared with 6,686 the previous week. But the handsome growth rates over the same period a year ago are certainly falling. And, we are not seeing a rise in the average mortgage size being approved any longer either. These static levels are interesting because this is usually when spring season impetus is noticed.

FATTER PAY PACKETS
Wages grew +2.3% in Australia in the year to September according to data out today. Public sector pay grew faster (+2.7%) than private sector pay (+2.1%) - interesting because this was under Tony Abbott's watch, which will surprise many. The result was as expected by analysts.

UPDATING THE SPELLING
The spelling of Wanganui District will be changed to ‘Whanganui District’ – reflecting the views of the Wanganui District Council (WDC), local iwi and public submitters. This makes it consistent with Whangarei, Whakatane, Whenuapai, and correct Maori pronunciation. The old spelling was the only place using the wrong structure.

BIG BOND ISSUE COMING
Spark Finance is considering making an offer of up to $100 mln unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate bonds to institutional and New Zealand retail investors, with the ability to accept up to $50 mln in over-subscriptions.

ALMOST $30 BIL
The NZ Super Fund's October report shows the Fund has now grown to $29.8 bln. The October return was 5.54%. The return for the last twelve months was 9.42%, and the return since inception is 9.81% p.a.

HERE COME THE AUSSIES
Virgin will add 75,000 seats on trans-Tasman routes in 2016 as part of ongoing changes to its international network. That follows Jetstar and Qantas.

WHOLESALE RATES SLIP
Local wholesale swap rates fell today by another -2 bp across the curve. The 90 day bank bill rate also fell -2 bp to 2.86%.

NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
Our currency rose, fell, rose again and then settled at the same rates it was at, at this time yesterday. It is at 64.7 USc, at 91.1 AUc and 60.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still at 70.6. Check our real-time charts here.

RIP JONAH LOMU

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