A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Friday; Consumer confidence 'extremely low', housing debt rises, 'woody debris' inquiry deadline extended, Jerome Powell pranked

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you already work from home, before you sign off for the weekend).

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There have been no changes today.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
BNZ increased its 'Rapid Save' rate 35 basis points to 4.30% from 3.95%. Westpac also added 10 basis points to its 90-day and six month term deposit and term PIE rates, lifting them to 4.10% and 5.30%, respectively.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE STILL LOW
Consumer confidence lifted one point in April to the "still extremely low level" of 79.3, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan NZ Consumer Confidence Survey. The proportion of people who believe it's a good time to buy a major household item, a key retail indicator, rose one point to -31. And inflation expectations eased a little to 5.2% from 5.4%.

HOUSING LENDING GROWTH RATE SLOWS
The Reserve Bank's latest monthly sector credit data shows the annual rate of housing lending growth slowed to 3.5% in March from 3.7% in February. The personal consumer lending growth rate increased, however, to 4.1% from 3.2%. The business lending growth rate fell to 4.9% from 5.7%, and the agriculture lending growth rate was slightly higher at 1.3% versus 1.2%. Total housing debt stood at $347.474 billion at the end of March, a month-on-month increase of $929 million. Consumer debt fell $69 million to $13.756 billion, business debt dropped $575 million to $132.076 billion, and agriculture debt was up $68 million to $62.323 billion.

OWNER-OCCUPIERS TAKE LION'S SHARE OF MORTGAGE BORROWING
The Reserve Bank also issued its March figures for new residential mortgage lending by borrower type. For March, the total was $6.036 billion, up 57% from $3.836 billion in February. The March total includes $1.245 billion for first home buyers, $3.637 billion for other owner-occupiers, $1.066 billion for investors, and $87 million for business purposes.

SFO GOES AFTER EX-INVESTMENT COMPANY DIRECTOR
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says it can now name a former executive alleged to have fraudulently obtained more than $2 million from the investment company he worked for after the Court lifted name suppression. The SFO has brought 51 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and 51 charges of false accounting against Neil Barnes, who it says currently resides overseas. A warrant has been issued for Barnes’ arrest. Barnes was CEO of Nelson-based Investment Services Limited (ISL) and three associated property investment companies (ISL Group) between 2007 and 2018. Between 2011 and 2018, he is alleged to have made 51 payments from company bank accounts into his personal accounts and incorrectly recorded these in ISL’s ledgers, the SFO says.

DEADLINE FOR 'WOODY DEBRIS' INQUIRY PUSHED OUT
A 12-day extension for the Ministerial Inquiry into woody debris, including forestry slash, and sediment in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and Wairoa, to May 12, has been approved. The three-member panel for the Ministerial Inquiry, chaired by Hekia Parata, sought the extension from the Inquiry’s two lead Ministers, David Parker and Peeni Henare, due to the number and substance of the submissions received. Parker says 313 submissions, "many of them fulsome and comprehensive," have been received.

BANK OF JAPAN AWAITED
The latest monetary policy update from the Bank of Japan is due Friday. New Governor Kazuo Ueda is expected to discuss conducting a comprehensive examination of the central bank's past monetary easing steps and revise its guidance on the future policy path, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Reuters reports Asian shares have surged ahead of the decision.

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN PRANKED BY RUSSIANS
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has been pranked in a phone call by Russians posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Bloomberg reports. A video of the call, by supporters of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has reportedly been broadcast on Russian state TV.

WEATHER WARNING
MetService has issued a heavy rain watch and strong wind watch for Auckland this weekend. Auckland Emergency Management is "in monitoring mode." This is because MetService is tracking the potential impacts of a subtropical low expected to affect the upper North Island from the early hours of Sunday morning through to Monday. 

NZ DOLLAR AT US61.55C
At the time of writing the New Zealand dollar's at US61.55 cents, up a little from US61.50c this morning. It's also at AU92.81c, 55.85 euro cents, and 82.34 yen.

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