Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
SBS Bank raised rates late on Friday. Today, First Credit Union, and WBS followed. Nelson Building Society (NBS) has also raised their fixed rates.
TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were term deposit increases from SBS Bank, and from First Credit Union, WBS and China Construction Bank.
TEAMING UP WITH AN AUSSIE
Kiwi Group Holdings today announced the sale of its life insurance business, Kiwi Insurance, to nib nz for NZ$45 mln. Under the terms of the deal nib will buy the whole life insurance business and enter an exclusive relationship with Kiwibank which will see the bank refer its retail customers to nib "for their life and living insurance needs". The sale is subject to regulatory approvals. Kiwi Group Holdings is owned by NZ Post (53%), the NZ Super Fund (25%), and the ACC (22%). Kiwibank has shareholder funds of NZ$1.8 bln. NIB Group has shareholder funds of AU$706 mln. (The origin of the NIB name is Newcastle Industrial Benefits, founded by the union at the BHP Newcastle steel plant, now defunct. It has come a long way since and is now publicly listed). Banks quitting their life insurance businesses has become a common theme over the past two years.
LOCKING IN THAT LOW RATE MONEY
Auckland Airport (AIA, #) is looking for up to $150 mln via 5 year bond, with a margin 70-80 bps over the 5 year swap rate (~2.60% + 80 bps = 3.40%). Not to be out-done, Vector (VCT, #32) says it is looking for up to $300 mln via a 6 year bond.
CAPPING A WEAK WEEK
Even though the overall NZX50 index closed down a minor -0.2% last week, there were in fact some notable movements by some on that index. The big one was Westpac (even if it is only in the index on a token basis) which fell more than -12% and dropped 3 places to #38. Precinct Properties (PCT, #21) dropped -4.2%. In fact, all listed property companies in the NZX50 fell except Vital Healthcare (VHP, #28). In the retirement/rest home property sector, they all fell too with one exception with the largest fall being by Summerset (SUM, #13) by -3.5%. Arvida (ARV, #29) was the only gainer, up +2.5%. In the utilities sector, they all fell too except one, with the largest fall being by Contact Energy (CEN, #6) which went down -3.1%. The exception was Chorus (CNU, #14) which was up +1.4%.
CAPPING A CHALLENGING YEAR
All these companies will be in many fund manager portfolios. Research IP is running its Fund Manager Awards again this year, unique because there is one category that allows those in the wider industry, advisers, or those with an interest, to vote in their "Advisor Choice" category.
PRACTICAL MANDATE
Consultants and auditors Deloitte today advised they now have a vaccine mandate for all staff to be in-office or at-client situations. And of course, they won't be the only one. The soon-to-be released vaccine passport is going to get a very heavy workout soon.
A MAY AUSSIE ELECTION
It is all unofficial of course, but the Australian Federal bureaucracy seems to be working towards an April Budget and a May election there. On top of their huge recent deficits, there will be more spending and 'tax cuts'.
LOCAL PANDEMIC UPDATE
In Australia Delta cases in Victoria have jumped again to 1126 cases reported there today. There are now 16,178 active cases in the state and there were another 5 deaths yesterday. In NSW there were another 187 new community cases reported today with 2,898 active locally acquired cases, and they had another 7 deaths yesterday. Queensland is reporting another new case. The ACT has 13 new cases. Overall in Australia, more than 81% of eligible Aussies are fully vaccinated, plus 8% have now had one shot so far. In contrast, there were three new cases in New Zealand at the border, one death and 190 new community cases. Now 89.2% of Kiwis nationally aged 12+ have had at least one vaccination, while the Australian rate is now at 89.3% of all aged 16+.
GOLD SOFTISH
In early Asian trading, gold is at US$1816/oz and down -US$2 from its close on Saturday.
EQUITIES UNINSPIRING
The NZX50 has started the week virtually unchanged near is close today. The ASX200 is down -0.2% in early afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened with very little change. Hong Kong has opened -0.6% lower, while Shanghai has opened flat. The S&P500 futures index suggests New York will open tonight -0.3% off its record high close on Friday.
SWAP & BONDS RATES RETREAT
We don't have today's closing swap rates yet. They are probably softer and flatter. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +2 bps to 0.82%.The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is now at 1.78% and little-changed. The China Govt 10yr is now at 2.91% and down -1 bp. The New Zealand Govt 10 year rate is now at 2.52% but still above the earlier RBNZ fix for that 10yr rate at 2.49% (-1 bp). The US Govt ten year has fallen -6 bps from Friday to just on 1.47%.
NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
The Kiwi dollar is now at 71.1 and virtually unchanged since this morning. Against the Aussie we are also little-changed at 96.2 AUc. Against the euro we are at 61.5 euro cents which is little-changed as well. The TWI-5 remains at 74.9.
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BITCOIN SURGES
The bitcoin price is now at US$65,196 with a +4.9% surge since where we opened this morning. Volatility in the past 24 hours has been high at just over +/- 3.3%.
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50 Comments
Consultants and auditors Deloitte today advised they now have a vaccine mandate for all staff to be in-office or at-client situations. And of course, they won't be the only one. The soon-to-be released vaccine passport is going to get a very heavy workout soon.
I think it will come a time people will test the 'mandate' in the courts on the grounds of the treaty, constitution and bill of rights.
On recent events, Bolton, Tamihere, wealth tax, three waters, the judiciary is looking more and more likely to become more and more involved for those seeking redress for government policy and activities. That in itself is an indictment of the stability and direction of this government and raises quite some issue, with their actual judgement, soundness and credibility. This is heading towards the style of litigious politics akin to the USA, up until now scarcely ever present in our nation.
Doctors, teachers and midwives seek judicial review: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/126918608/doctors-midwives-and-t…
https://www.cdc.gov/library/covid19/08132021_covidupdate.html
if vaxxed and unvaxxed carry the same viral load (equally transmisable), makes you wonder what the point of mandates are???
Quite a list isn't it...?
Nothing to see here
https://www.headsupster.com/forumthread?shortId=287
Why are so many professional athletes collapsing....?
What rubbish. Making a list of people who have recently had a variety of health issues or died and then suggest it is all because of them getting a vaccine.
The long list is designed to make you think "well the list is quite long, so there must be some truth to it, even if each example I look into might not sound that valid". The technique is often used by these conspiracy websites to overwhelm their readers with BS, making them believe the unbelievable.
This study is based on patients who have tested positive i.e. 'breakthrough infections', and does not account for those vaccinated people who were exposed to covid and did not develop breakthrough infections. Something of a problem, I'd have thought?
The outcome 'patients who test positive for covid shed covid' is not that surprising to me, with other important questions being are vaccinated people less likely to test positive, and what are the clinical outcomes of the two groups.
SCMP suggests that the ol' China property bubble might not be a bubble after all, despite
- Homes at up to 43x incomes
- Tens of millions of empty homes
- ~85% of new homes purchased by households that already own at least 1.
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3154749/china-doesnt-have-…
China’s macro set-up of low foreign currency external debt (at only 9% of GDP), a current account that remains in surplus, low inflation and high real interest rate differentials with the US limits its external funding risk. The spillovers from the property and construction sectors can be contained by:
- ensuring an orderly restructuring process for property developers and
- easing policy to keep growth within a reasonable range.
The banking system has limited exposure to the property sector. Since non-performing loans and credit costs sit at low levels overall, it should be able to handle any rise in delinquencies in the property and construction sectors.- Link
This is madness. Retail can open, Public Pools can open. Gatherings of up to 25 people can take place. There is no reason why Schools and Hospitality cannot open up as well. We are 80%+ (?) double vaccinated, and still stuck with this stupid system. At least we can go look at animal in cages. Fucking disaster.
COVID now 6th-leading cause of death in kids 5-11, SC Health Dept. says
“COVID-19 nationally has become the sixth-leading cause of death for this age group,” Kelly said. She said the Delta variant hit young people very hard, harder than the original strain.
COVID now 6th-leading cause of death in kids 5-11, SC Health Dept. says (live5news.com)
delta is a game changer the sooner we ok vaccines for them the better
For context, the linked CDC report in that article quotes 94 deaths from covid in 5-11 year-olds between January 2020 and October 16 2021. Equivalent to about 1.5 deaths over the whole of NZ. While every death is a tragedy, we wouldn't normally take extreme population-wide measures to deal with this kind of risk.
Not that I am anti-lockdown or anti-vaccine - the risks to the elderly and adults with comorbidities are very real, but the risk/benefit ratio is much more marginal when vaccinating children. Any argument relating lockdowns to childhood vaccination rates would have to be based on a herd immunity argument, I'd have thought.
Anyone else catch Bloomfield declaring that supermarkets pose no risk?
If that's so, why do I need to scan in, wear a mask etc at the supermarket.
Is it the rapidly inflating price of my weekly supermarket shop that somehow wards off virus?
If so, the petrol station must surely be another place that poses no risk ... have you tried filling up recently?
love the way the right media has twisted this blog post to stop MIQ altogether, that is not what they have said also what they have said is make the auckland border stronger and keep covid in auckland meaning for aucklanders to leave auckland hard luck, notsurprised it came from the south island
while i agree that MIQ is not longer fit for purpose it needs to change to house only those with covid that can not or will not isolate
my process would be only vaccinated people with a negative test can fly here you could do a PCR test and antigen test at the airport when they arrive which you would have to test negative to leave, and a follow up PCR test 5 days later ( which if you dont complete you get fined $20k) to catch anyone that catches covid on the way in
I work in manufacturing. Stainless steel (bar lengths) is becoming an issue. We’re having to make do with not necessarily the right size and develop a plan B… make smaller items out of bigger stock etc. At least the Christmas break might give suppliers chance to catch up as most factories shut down.
I've cooled off on the idea of vaccine passports and mandates now. As that Lancet article showed [link] it doesn't reduce onwards transmission anyway so it's all a bit pointless in regards to stopping the spread unfortunately.
Although, listening to a few in government, they may well be instructing the unvaccinated to sew a symbol onto their clothing soon.
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