A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Wednesday; many retail rate changes, commercial consents rise sharply, record concrete pour, ASB reports record profits, swaps stop falling, NZD firm, & more

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you already work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Five banks revised carded fixed rates today, and all of the changes were reductions. That involved China Construction Bank, ICBC, the Cooperative Bank and SBS Bank. Our rate tables have all the changes updated.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Five institutions revised selected carded term deposit rates today, including BNZ, Kiwibank, SBS Bank, the Cooperative Bank, and Unity Money. All these changes were increases. More here. You have to be sceptical about how long TD rates can rise when home loan rates are falling. (Also, a reader has pointed out that existing customers can often get slightly higher rates than those advertised. You should ask for them.)

LOW-INTEREST PERSONAL LOAN FOR EVs & eBIKES
Westpac has launched a new lower-interest car loan for electric vehicles, including EV cars, e-bikes, e-scooters and e-mopeds. After a $100 application fee, the interest rate is 6.99% pa (a floating rate) and is available up to $50,000 for a term of up to 5 years. If you borrowed the maximum over the full five years, your monthly repayments would be $992 and you would pay $9,420 in fees and interest. Westpac also has a discounted Warm Up loan, and a Sustainable Agribusiness loan. Westpac's normal car loan is 14% pa variable.

COMMERCIAL CONSENTS RISE
The value of new office and warehouse buildings being consented is now running at record levels with nearly $800 mln for this type of construction consented in the second quarter alone.

RECORD CONCRETE POUR
New data out today from Stats NZ shows that record amounts of ready-mixed concrete was poured for a June quarter, more than 1.2 mln m3 in the quarter and the first time ever it has exceeded that level. Auckland activity drove the result, but the levels poured in Otago/Southland are notable for their rise as well. Notable for being weak is the Wellington region. Nationally, almost 4.6 mln m3 was poured in the past year, also a new record.

FALSE & MISLEADING
Insurer Cigna has admitted to making false and misleading representations over its communication of inflation adjustments to its insurance cover. Its a self-reported error after the final report of the FMA and RBNZ life insurance conduct and culture review. It involves more than 50,000 policies and more than $13 mln in overcharges from 2013 to 2019 averaging $258 per policy it affected..

RECORD PROFITS - AGAIN
ASB's profit pushes towards NZ$1.5 bln for its June year. CEO Vittoria Shortt says 'we are here to help'. These results were part of the CBA Annual Report release, which shows CEO Matt Comyn earned AU$7 mln (page 92), and up +35% from 2021. Page 93 reveals Shortt earned AU$3.7 mln, up +27% from 2021. She is the fourth highest paid manager in the CBA group.

CHINA'S CPI UP, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS EXPECTED
China's annual inflation rate rose to 2.7% in July from 2.5% in June, but this was below market forecasts of 2.9% for July. Even so, this was the fastest rise in consumer prices there since July 2020, mainly due to a surge in food prices with cost of pork bouncing back sharply. Beef prices held, but sheep meat prices fell sharply. Milk prices are stable.

CHINA'S PPI INCREASES EASE
Meanwhile, China's producer price inflation eased to a 17-month low of 4.2% in July, an easing from 6.1in June and less than market consensus of 4.8% for July. The latest figure represented the 19th straight month of slowing producer price rises from a drop in raw material costs as construction activity slowed. 

A FINANCIAL STABILITY RISK
In China, their National Audit Office is now investigating loans by their shadow-banking Trust industry to property developers. These loans are now in jeopardy, and that risks the US$3 tln trust industry and financial stability in China. It might be a background reason the Taiwan issue has been raised, as a diverting crisis that can't be blamed on Beijing's economic management.

A BIG GRAIN HARVEST DUE
In Australia, they are preparing for a record winter grain harvest. This comes at a lucky time for them as international demand and prices are high because northern hemisphere conditions are not good for food production.

SWAP RATES STOP FALLING
Wholesale swap rates are probably higher today, reversing some of yesterday's retreat. The 90 day bank bill rate firmed a minor +1 bp to 3.24%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is now at 3.23% and up +3 bps from this time yesterday. The China 10 year bond rate is now at 2.76% and unchanged. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 3.33%, up +1 bps from this time yesterday, and matching the earlier RBNZ fix for this bond which was down -2 bps at 3.33%. The UST 10 year is now at 2.79% and up +3 bps from this time yesterday.

EQUITIES SOFT
Wall Street closed slightly lower today in lightish trade, with the S&P500 down -0.4% from yesterday. Tokyo has opened down -0.8%. Hong Kong has crashed lower at its opening, down -2.1%. Shanghai is down -0.6% in early Wednesday trade. The ASX200 is down -0.2%. And the NZX50 is also down -0.2% in late trade, not helped by a -7.5% dump of A2 Milk (ATM, #10) shares. More here. Meridian (MEL, #6) is also down -1.6%. Going the other way, notable gains are from Ryman (RYM, #12), ANZ #35, and Vector (VCT, #25), all with gains exceeding +2% on the day.

GOLD FIRM
In early Asian trade, gold is up another +US$9 from this time yesterday, now at US$1,794/oz.

NZD FIRMISH
The Kiwi dollar has firmed again slightly today to 62.9 USc from this time yesterday. Against the AUD we are firmer at just on 90.4 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 61.6 euro cents. That means our TWI-5 is now up at just on 71.4.

BITCOIN FALLS
Bitcoin is now at US$22,811 and down -4.1% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been moderate at just over +/-2.7%.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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