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A review of things you need to know before you go home Tuesday; TSB Bank trims TD rates, smaller trade surplus, comparing NZ with AU, swap rates unchanged, NZD firmer

A review of things you need to know before you go home Tuesday; TSB Bank trims TD rates, smaller trade surplus, comparing NZ with AU, swap rates unchanged, NZD firmer

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes today.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
TSB Bank has trimmed -10 bps off its 6 and 9 month term deposit offers, and taken -20 bps off its 1 year offer.

TRADE SURPRISE
The trade balance for May has come in a lot less than markets were expecting. They foresaw a better-than-last-May +$419 mln result compared to the average +$355 mln we had in the last two Mays. But what we got was just +103 mln. And that was primarily because of a surge of petroleum imports in the month (up +71%). Imports from Australia rose +24%; imports from China rose +13%. Exports to China rose +17%; exports to Japan rose +34%. The fuel surge is likely to just we a blip for May because cargo loads can be quite irregular.

BIRTHDAY SOON
KiwiSaver will be ten years old next week on July 2.

GROWING UP
Data out in Australia today shows their population growing at +1.6% pa. That compares with ours which is growing at +2.1% in the comparable December year.

BENCHMARKING BIG BROTHER
Census data for Australia is starting to be released as well. Here are some top-level data from that 2016 Census (August 9, 2016. It was maligned at the time, but in the end it had an under-count rate of under 1%.) There are 9.9 mln households in the lucky country [1.8 mln], with an average of 2.6 people per household [2.7]. There median age is 38.0 yrs [37.0 yrs].Those renting pay a median rent of AU$355/week; those with a mortgage pay AU$1,755 per month (AU$405/week). Only 31% of Aussie own a mortgage-free home [21.2% in 2013]. There are an average of 1.8 cars per dwelling [2.0]. [Equivalent NZ data is in the square brackets.]

HIGHER IN AUSSIE
Australia’s largest home loan lender has become the last of the big four banks to lift interest-only interest rates amid regulatory pressure.

WHOLESALE RATES UNCHANGED
There are no changes to swap rates for terms 1 through 4 years, but rates for 5, 7 and 10 years are lower by just -1 bps today. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 1.96%.

NZ DOLLAR STILL FIRM
The NZD is again marginally firmer than at this time yesterday at 72.9 USc although it had touched 73 USc earlier in the day. On the cross rates, against the Aussie we are holding at 96.1 AUc, as we are also holding against the euro 65.1 euro cents. That takes the TWI-5 to 77.3. But bitcoin is much weaker again, down another -4.2% to US$2,510. (At one point at about 6am this morning it was under US$2,400.)

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Daily exchange rates

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Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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8 Comments

Wow it seems the person who adjusts the interest rates at TSB has an itchy finger .......... their adjustments seem to come thick and fast , or is it just my imagination ?

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But we have less than 1% inflation don't we?

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The official inflation rate listed on the RBNZ website is 2.2%.

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As the BOJ has cut back on short-term debt, foreigners have snapped it up. That’s because they can use cross-currency swap markets to turn the negative yields on Japanese t-bills into a better yield than U.S. paper. Read more

Always a shortage of global USD funding.

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'Only 31 percent of Aussie own a mortgage free home ' Median rents are 15 percent lower in Australia( on comparable exchange ), and home ownership rates in Auckland are somewhat lower. Anyone can get a interest only loan and push up prices. What happens when the banks stop giving them out.

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'Shi. happens , sometimes'

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Well gee that is a surprise. CNN admit the Trump Russia election story is mosly bullshit, with no proof and talked about endlessly for the ratings... if only a MSM journalist could have figured this out sooner.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-27/cnn-exposed-undercover-sting-p…

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