Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
ASB dropped its 2 year fixed rate by -20 bps to 4.15%, undercutting all its rivals. More here.
TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
General Finance raised all its rates from 6 months to 5 years. Mutual Credit Finance raise all theirs from 1-5 years.
CONSUMER SPENDING RISES
Worldline/Paymark says that while the latest core retail did not surpass the Black Friday sales rush of the previous weekend, overall pre-Christmas spending across the nation continued on a strong track, exceeding pre-Christmas spending in recent years.
DAIRY PRICES FIRM
Dairy prices are expected to rise at tomorrow's GDT auction - but the derivatives market is walking back some earlier enthusiastic pricing. Now the futures pricing sees WMP up by +5% and SMP up by +3% over the past three weeks.
STRESSFUL STRESS TESTING
The RBNZ revealed the results of the two banking system stress tests today. The updated Solvency Stress Test was passed by all banks, despite them not knowing the Stage two scenarios when they were tested with the first stresses. But the RBNZ notes some banks might have struggled with meeting the higher Capital requirements that are kicking in now. The Liquidity Stress Test was a struggle for all banks, with only one meeting the toughest Very Severe scenario of relentless cash outflows. The big banks performed worse than the smaller ones at that extreme. More here.
NOT INTERESTED ANYMORE
In Australia, the number of people wanting to buy a home plummeted nearly -30% in November amid worsening affordability, the CBA home buying intention index shows.
EYES ON RBA
The RBA rate decision at 4:30pm today is not expected to bring any change from their 0.1 % OCR/CRT level. But it might help us understand if they still see Aussie inflation as a temporary phenomena, when they will start tapering their bond purchases, and how long before they will wait before 'normalising' rates.
LOCAL PANDEMIC UPDATE
In Australia, pandemic cases in Victoria were 1185 reported today. There are now 13,050 active cases in the state - and there were another 7 deaths today. In NSW there were another 260 new community cases reported today, a jump, with 3,060 active locally acquired cases, and two deaths. Queensland is reporting one new case. The ACT has 3 new cases. Overall in Australia, just over 88% of eligible Aussies are fully vaccinated, plus a bit under 5% have now had one shot so far. In contrast, there were zero cases in New Zealand at the border again, and 98 new community cases today. Now 87.6% are double vaxxed, 93.4% of Kiwis nationally aged 12+ have had at least one vaccination, and the equivalent Australian rate is now at 92.9% of all aged 16+ (92.0% ages 12+).
GOLD SOFT
In early Asian trading, gold is at US$1779/oz and -US$5 lower than this time yesterday.
EQUITIES ALL RISING
On Wall Street, the S&P500 ended up +1.2% in their Monday trading. Tokyo has opened up +1.2% as well, as has Hong Kong. But Shanghai is only up +0.5% in their early trade. The ASX200 is up +0.7% in their early afternoon trade today, while the NZX50 is flat in late trade.
SWAP & BONDS RATES FALL & FLATTEN
We don't have today's closing swap rates yet. They may have all recovered sharply today. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 0.88%. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is now at 1.62% and up +4 bps from this time yesterday. The China Govt 10yr is at 2.85% and recovering only +1 bp. The New Zealand Govt 10 year rate is now at 2.40% and up a strong +10 bps, but still below the earlier RBNZ fix for that 10yr rate at 2.41% (+6 bps). The US Govt ten year is up +7 bps from this time yesterday at 1.45% in a straight line up.
NZ DOLLAR LITTLE-CHANGED
The Kiwi dollar is now at 67.5 USc and unchanged from this time yesterday. Against the Aussie we are -½c softer at 95.7 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 59.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 is slightly softer at 72.3.
Appreciate this coverage? Support us in lockdown and go ad-free. Find out how.
BITCOIN RISES AGAIN
The bitcoin price has risen to US$51,004 and +4.4% above the level at this time yesterday. Volatility since this time yesterday has been very high at just on +/- 4.4%. The FMA has fingered cryptos as "high risk" money-laundering tools. They are going to get close regulatory attention now.
This soil moisture chart is animated here.
Keep ahead of upcoming events by following our Economic Calendar here ».
Daily exchange rates
Select chart tabs
37 Comments
Our interest rates are high (relatively speaking) Our biggest exports - milk, beef and lamb are at or near record highs. Unemployment is low. Inflation is coming. So why the low NZD?
Its like the overseas punters know something we can't see. What major flaw in our economy is about to be exposed? Or were we living in a fools paradise when the borders were locked.
As a farmer I'm not complaining but if our exchange rate is a proxy for our economic health then we aren't doing too well.
Very good question.
Any good answers?
I mean I think our construction sector is going to face major headwinds, and real estate to a lesser extent, but I doubt they will be playing on the minds of overseas punters.
Do they think our ultra cautious approach to covid will create issues? Is it ongoing issues with tourism?
I think the big markets are still in a risk-off mood. That's the biggest factor in NZD strength. What we actually do as a nation is pretty irrelevant outside of policy extremes.
If the US Fed were to announce another round of QE, say, putting investors back in a betting mood, we'd see the NZD gather strength. If they tighten, the NZD will continue to weaken.
It's not the interest rates which are the problem. It's the people who give advice to others on how much debt they should keep on taking and the banks who don't care about lending them stupid amount of money. The advice given by advisors is that no matter what, just take on debt and buy more. They will say that someone will pay your rent and you will get a house to yourself to sell later at a huge margin with no taxes to pay.
This is the way we are making new money these days. I want to ask a question is this is the right way and are we fooling ourselves.
This just results in things being expensive for the next generation and do my add any value is my opinion.
The ol' rat poison getting up off the mat. Been a rough 7 days. But here's the skinny. On-chain analytics shows that many buyers over USD60K got the fear and started selling. This ratcheted into the leveraged long positions and all hell broke loose. All the open interest positions seem to be exhausted. You gotta love how these markets clear themselves.
It's the exchanges. They can see exactly what positions everyone is holding. They can profit while the market tanks, wait til the longs have been forced out, then pump in a bunch of Tether funny-money and send it shooting back up again to liquidate the shorts. You can't beat the house; only try and guess what they want and try to stay on the right side of it.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.