Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
ASB, BNZ, Sovereign, and BankDirect all raised fixed mortgage rates today. In BNZ's case it was the second hike this week. ASB also sneaked up its floating home loan rate by +10 bps, although that just aligned it with its other Aussie rivals.
DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
BNZ and ASB both raised a selected range of term deposit rates today.
'ANZ TRIED TO OPERATE UP A CARTEL'
In Australia, their competition authority has taken proceedings on a consent basis against ANZ and Macquarie Bank in relation to "alleged attempts to engage in cartel conduct". Here is ANZ's statement.
SOCIALISING THE LOSSES
The Labour Party is calling for public money to be used to help owners of quake-damaged Wellington buildings get them fixed.
NZX NOT ENOUGH
Shares in Synlait Milk are now dual-listed on the ASX as well as the NZX. They are not the first company to do this, attracted by a bigger, more liquid marketplace. More than 70% of its institutional investors are Aussie-based.
BETTER THAN EXPECTED
New Zealand's goods trade deficit came in better than expected in October at -$846 mln and lower than in any of the past three years. Exports rose +2.2% while imports rose just +0.6%. China and Japan buying more dairy, logs and horticultural products led the improvement. Crude oil imports fell -17% in value and -19% in volume and that helped todays data too.
"HIGHER COSTS MADE US DO IT"
Today, ASB raised its floating mortgage rate out-of-cycle. In Australia, UBank, an NAB subsidiary and BNZ cousin announced the same sort of move. This comes just one day after their parliamentary inquiry criticised the big four banks’ “oligopoly”. The increase will be effective December 2 and be a rise of +10 bps, the same increase as ASB's move here.
NO INFLATION IN SIGHT YET
Japan’s consumer prices fell for an eighth straight month in October in data released today. This is the longest streak of declines since 2009-2011, underlining how far they are from achieving a 2% inflation target. Still, the +0.1% CPI was an improvement on the -0.5% decline in September. Progress is undermined by cheap oil and fuel prices and it is hard to see how that actually hurts Japan.
WHOLESALE RATES STABLE
Wholesale rates are pretty much unchanged today, although one year to four year swap rates are lower by -1 bp. The 90-day bank bill is unchanged at 2.03%.
NZ DOLLAR HOLDS
The Kiwi dollar is unchanged from this time yesterday and still at 70 USc. On the cross rates it is back to 94.3 AUc, and is at 66.3 euro cents. The TWI-5 at 76. Check our real-time charts here.
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6 Comments
China and Japan buying more dairy, logs and horticultural products led the improvement..
In my mail box from ANZ:
China looks to be at the epic-centre of the uplift in export performance at the expense of many other top export destinations.
The key is China’s renewed appetite for New Zealand primary products again.
Auckland prices need to go up 40% yet! I jest as I believe London prices are on the way down and central goverments realise they need to stop the market from rising further. It does emphasise though how property in the primary cities trade at big premiums to secondary ones.
AKL is a baby city and it is all about higher density homes and centrality over next few years.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-25/london-home-values-s…
SOCIALISING THE LOSSES
No way. Do they socialise the profits or even pay capital gains tax? They take on the investments and all the risks that go with that. That is the way it works, that is business. Should the government bail out every business that gos broke? If they can't pull them selves together or they did not adequately insure themselves then this is no different.
If they go broke and and loose ownership, the building still remains. In an efficient orderly process a new owner will pay the receivers what it is worth allowing for repairs and if it is viable it will be returned to service.
The fact that Labour is so willing to throw away the tax payers money is a worry and gives little confidence in how they would run the economy.
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