A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; Kiwibank goes sub 4%, court win for ComCom, factories expanding a bit slower, linkers go sub 2%, stocks soft, swaps rise, NZD rises

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac today joined TSB Bank and ASB in adopting 4.19% as their 'special' for a two year mortgage. Then Kiwibank announced a 3.99% two year rate, just as HSBC is ending its 3.95% 18 month rate.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There have been no TD changes reported today.

EXPANDING SLOWER
The manufacturing sector continued to experience a slower rate of expansion in March, according to the latest BNZ-BusinessNZ PMI. While a number of negative comments mentioned a slowdown in both domestic and offshore orders, it is still important to remember that two-thirds of comments from manufacturers remain positive, not to mention that the sector is still in expansion mode. BNZ said the slowdown would have to extend quite a bit further before it became a genuine growth worry. Most of this slowdown is in the South Island.

A NEW LOW
The yield on today's Govt 2035 inflation adjusted bond auction fell below 2% for the first time. Demand was good with a 2.6 coverage ratio, and the average yield the 27 successful bidders offered was just 1.8968% plus CPI. Yield chasers are chasing this one right down. Bill English wins this round.

NO PRESSURE FROM FOOD PRICES
Food prices increased +0.5% in the year to April 2016, led by higher prices for fruit and vegetables (up +8.9%) than in 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today. Grocery food prices decreased -1.7% in the year to April 2016, influenced by lower prices for milk (down -10%) and yogurt (down -11%). These decreases were partly offset by higher prices for chocolate (up +5.6%) and butter (up +18%).

CHANGING THE EMPHASIS
The Government today signaled Budget 2016 will include spending brought forward from 2017. It says money set aside for tax cuts in 2017 will be reprioritised for debt reduction. But it says it is still committed to tax cuts 'over time' and either in 2017 or later.

COMMERCE COMMISSION CHEERS COURT WIN
The Commerce Commission is trumpeting victory in a key consumer credit fees court case. The Supreme Court has dismissed Motor Trade Finance Ltd (MTF) and Sportzone Motorcycles Ltd’s second and final appeal in a long-running credit fees case brought by the Commerce Commission, providing the definitive ruling on a key piece of credit law. Says Commission General Counsel Mary-Anne Borrowdale; "The Supreme Court has made clear that credit fees should only cover costs that are closely related to the particular loan transaction. It agreed with the Commission that the purpose of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act is to protect borrowers, ensuring transparency in the costs of borrowing. Fees should not be used to recover general business costs or to generate profits – that is what interest is for."

"Consumer credit issues, such as lenders charging excessive fees and not meeting their disclosure requirements, are a real focus fort he Commission. We are obviously pleased that the Court has backed our approach in this case and sent a clear message to all lenders, large and small, on what the law requires," Borrowdale added. Here's the judgment.

WHISTLING
Aussie dairy farmers want to tax consumers 50c/litre for milk to help them survive though some tough times. It's pretty unlikely though. The power to tax is a honeypot.

CARD FRAUD INCIDENCE
The Aussies have done a study of personal fraud. They found it affected 1.6 million Australians, or 8.5% of the population aged 15 and over. which is up from 6.7% of them when they did their last survey in 2010-11. Most people who experienced personal fraud experienced a single incident. The most common fraud type was card fraud by 5.9% of the population aged 15 and over, up from 3.7% five years ago.

STOCKS LOWER
Every major stock market in our time zone is down today. That includes us, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. This trading comes after Wall Street posted a -1% loss last night. However the declines in our time zone are not as steep as for New York.

SWAP RATES RISE
Swap rates rose +2 to +4 bps across the curve today. NZ swap rates are here. The 90-day bank bill rate dropped by -1 bp to 2.35%.

NZ DOLLAR HIGHER
We have pushed up strongly against the Aussie today, now its highest since late February. The Kiwi dollar is now at 68.2 USc, up to 93 AUc, and 59.7 euro cents. The TWI-5 is now at 71.4. The nine month range is under no threats yet. Check our real-time charts here.

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