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
In case you missed our update yesterday, ANZ has announced some broads rate increases for all home loan products, but only for those 2 years and shorter. Resimac raised their floating rate by +50 bps to 8.34%. Late today, Westpac has added +40 bps to their floating rate taking it to 8.39%. But while they matched ANZ to two years fixed, they have set all their longer rates at 5.99%.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
ANZ has announced rate rises for both term deposits and its Serious Saver at-call account. Rabobank went further, raising many key TD rates and taking their 4 month rate to 4.40% and their 9 month rate to 5.90%, both market-leading for those terms. Squirrel Money has raised its on-call savings rate to 5.00% pa, also market-leading. Heartland Bank raised its Direct Call rate by +50 bps to 4.60% and their 90 day Notice Saver to 5.50%. Westpac looks like it has matched ANZ on its bonus saver rates and key TD rates.
A GATE RUSH
Overseas worker arrivals are now running ahead of pre-Covid levels with more than 20,000 people arriving in New Zealand on work visas in March.
PERFORMANCE FEE FREE
Fisher Funds announced today that it is removing performance fees across all their KiwiSaver funds "and our Managed Funds multi asset portfolios", as of 1 July, 2023.
INFLATION EXPECTATIONS COOL IN AUSTRALIA
In Australia, the Melbourne Institute's inflation expectations survey shows it dipping from 5.0% in March to 4.6% in their April survey.
AUSSIE LABOUR MARKET STAYS STRONG
Australia added +53,000 new jobs in March, with full-time roles rising +72,000 and the number of part-time roles falling -19,000 in the month. Their jobless rate stayed unchanged at 3.5%. Their participation rate was also unchanged at 66.7%.
SWAP RATES STAY FIRM
Wholesale swap rates have probably risen again today. However, the real action in swap rates comes near the close. Our chart will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +1 bp at 5.53% and 28 bps above the OCR. The Australian 10 year bond yield is now at 3.30% and up another +5 bps from yesterday. The China 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 2.84%. And the NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 4.09%, and that is up another +2 bps from this time yesterday, and still above the the earlier RBNZ fix at 4.02% which is up another +1 bp. The UST 10 year yield is now at 3.41% and down -3 bps from this time yesterday, although that masks some volatility in between as bond markets assess the implications of the softening US CPI inflation.
EQUITIES GENERALLY LOWER
On Wall Street the S&P500 fell away after the CPI data release to be down -0.4% for the day. The NZX50 is down -0.3% in later trade here. The ASX200 is down -0.2% in mid afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened unchanged. But Hong Kong opened very weak but is down 'only' -0.4% in mid-morning trade. Shanghai has opened little-changed.
GOLD FIRM
In early Asian trade, gold is up +US$2 from this this time yesterday, now at US$2018/oz. It closed in New York earlier at US$2015/oz and in London at US$2008/oz.
NZD MARGINALLY SOFTER
The Kiwi dollar is littel-changed against the US dollar to just over 62.1 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -40 bps to 92.6 AUc. And against the euro we are down -40 bps at 56.5 euro cents. That means the TWI-5 is now at 69.8 with a -10 bps fall from this time yesterday.
BITCOIN STILL ABOUT US$30K
The bitcoin price has changed very little on a net basis since this time yesterday, still at US$30,080. But volatility over the past 24 hours has been low at +/-1.3%.
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25 Comments
These guys are attempting to do just that. 7.34% today apparently.
Fisher aggressive capital funds (edit: Growth Fund) haven't made any gains (only losses) for the last 12 months at least, mine is still underwater from 18 months ago, so making a big noise about this is just smoke and mirrors, they weren't getting any performance fee anyway. They still charge 1% per annum for the privilege of losing the money on your behalf.
They also gloss over that loss period by mainly advertising an annualised 5yr return, you have to dig much deeper to find the month to month losses more recently
For comparison, my Simplicity Growth Fund fees are 0.3%pa.
(Fisher Funds growth fee 1.02%pa + performance fees)
Simplicity Growth returns (after fees and before tax):
3mths: +6.48%
1yr: -3.28%
2yrs annualised: 0.24%
3yrs annualised: 8.91%
5yrs annualised 6.84% - (Fisher Funds Growth 5yr annualised return has been 6.6%)
The Māori Health Authority (Te Aka Whai Ora) is spending more than $1.15 million a month on contractors and consultants, newly released figures show.
Established on July 1 last year, the agency spent $9.2m on contractors and consultants in its first eight months. The Crown entity’s full Budget appropriation for the financial year is $535m, funding that includes the health services it commissions.*
A huge waste of money, ongoing, which will not help Maori as it does not address the causes of their poor health;smoking, unemployment poor housing, education and poverty, that amount of money could go a long way if applied properly
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/new-maori-health-authority-spending…
Yes they are over the moon..
On the eve of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, Māori were 97 per cent of the population but European settlers claimed to own 27 million hectares of New Zealand land, more than the total land mass of the country.
By 1862, 22 years after the treaty was signed, settlers had arrived in droves, meaning Māori were then only half the population and almost all of the South Island was Crown land. By the end of the century the Māori population would be less than 6 per cent.
Its a fun day when you realise "Great" Britain was only so because they used a brief technological advantage in firearms to hold a quarter of the world to ransom and steal all their stuff. Now in an age of parity, they're looking pretty aimless and sad.
But yeah let's all moan about the Murray's. They should relish in this empty materialistic existence that has been bestowed upon them. Every savage needs an iPad.
I have a friend travelling in the UK who has been astonished by the heating bills. Average power/gas bill is 2500 quid a year, over $400 NZ a month! And that is after govt subsidies. Nice for NZ to actually be cheaper at something for once.
Edit: it’s quite a big subsidy too: From 1 April to 30 June, the Ofgem Energy Price Cap level is £3,280 (annual equivalent). This is what consumers would pay if the Energy Price Guarantee were not in place.
Where is Fossil Lover when you need him?
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