A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Thursday; Westpac moves on fixed rates too, AIA reports surge, Fonterra unhappy with Govt., household net worth dives, swaps up sharply again, NZD dips, & 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
Westpac has followed ANZ and added +44 bps to their fixed rates. SBS Bank raised its floating rate to 7.29%, and their reverse equity rate is now up to 7.75%. These new rates will apply from November 20, 2022. Update: TSB has raised its fixed and floating rates. This increase means there are now no rates on offer below 5% from any bank.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Westpac has basically added +20 bps to their TD offers, and that takes their 6 month rate to 3.70% and the 12 month rate to 4.40%. SBS Bank raised some term deposit rates up to 9 months and savings account rates. Update: TSB has also raised term deposit rate offers.

THE BENCHMARKS
The RBNZ has released its Statement of Intent for 2023, and the performance metrics it will be judged by. These are as required by the updated legislation for the central bank.

FLYING HIGH
Auckland Airport (AIA, #3) today announced it has revised guidance for the 2023 financial year following a stronger than expected rebound in the aviation market, with high aircraft load factors and continued strength in forward international seat capacity expected to fuel the ongoing recovery. Reflecting this, guidance of underlying profit after tax of between $100 mln and $130 mln is now being provided for the 2023 financial year, an uplift on guidance provided in August of between $50 mln and $100 mln.

UNSTITCHING A DIFFICULT COMPROMISE
Fonterra is clearly not happy about how the Government is responding to HWEN. It says the farmer proposal was a finely balanced position where compromises were required by all parties to reach an agreed consensus. They are not happy that the Government ministers then just go and pick the bits that they like and reject the bits they don't. That unstitches the whole balanced proposal, they claim.

CAUGHT IN AN +36 BPS UPDRAFT
The $100 mln Air NZ retail bond offer has closed and the interest rate has been set at 6.61% per annum. This reflects an issue margin of 1.50% per annum over the base rate of 5.11% per annum. That is far above the indications set when this unsecured, unsubordinated, five year bond was launched on Monday. Then it seemed they would be paying 6.25%. They have been caught in an interest rate updraft since.

WARNING ON SHARP PRACTICES
FMA has issued warnings to "property investment" firms using non-compliant eligible investor certificates. Seven such firms have been issued with warnings after the regulator found 'a number of undesirable practices' in the market for wholesale investment offers. The warned firms include Black Robin Equity Limited and Westwood Terraces BRE Limited; Du Val Capital Partners Limited and Du Val BTR GP Limited; E+O Property Syndication Limited; Jasper NZ Investments Limited; Provincia Property Fund Limited; Williams Corporation Capital Partnership GP Limited; and Wolfbrook Capital Limited.

HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH SINKS
Statistics New Zealand says household net worth fell by -$129 bln, or over -5%, in the first half of the year - however household saving has picked up again. The fall in net worth is by far the largest ever recorded - almost all 'houses' in Q2, but it will be joined by declining investment fund values (including KiwiSaver) from here on.

LOW & STEADY
In Australia, their jobless rate remained steady at 3.5% in September as the number of employed people increased by just +900, and unemployment increased by +8800. Their participation rate was devilishly unchanged at 66.6%. We get our September labour force data on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

SWAP RATES MOMENTUM BUILDS
Wholesale swap rates are firmer again today with large rises again today. The key real action comes near the close. Our chart will record the final positions but they will be very much higher, perhaps by +10 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is up another +5 bps at 4.15%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is now at 4.09% and up +16 bps. The China 10 year bond rate is little-changed at 2.73%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 4.77%, and up +14 bps and now matching the earlier RBNZ fix for this bond at 4.77% which was up +19 bps from this time yesterday. The UST 10 year is now at 4.15% and up +14 bps from this time yesterday.

EQUITIES RETREAT
Wall Street fell today as the bond momentum picked up with the S&P500 down -0.7% at the close. Tokyo has opened down -1.2% catching the same downdraft. Hong Kong is down -3.1% and Shanghai is down -1.0% in their early trade. The ASX200 is down -1.2% in early afternoon trade. The NZX50 is down -0.9% in late trade.

GOLD DOWN
In early Asian trade, gold is at US$1625/oz and down -US$28 from this time yesterday.

NZD DIPS
The Kiwi dollar has fallen -½c from this time yesterday to be just on 56.4 USc. Against the AUD we are up at 90.4 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 57.8 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 is at 67.3 and down -30 bps from this time yesterday.

BITCOIN WEAK AGAIN
Bitcoin is firmer today, now at US$19,043 and down -1.4% this time yesterday. In between it fell to just US$18,920. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at just over +/- 1.0%.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

Keep abreast of upcoming events by following our Economic Calendar here ».