A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Monday; higher home loan and TD rates, Aussies feel mortgage stress, fast food not fast enough for inflation, swaps mixed, NZD mixed, & 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/LOAN RATE CHANGES
Co-op Bank has moved up its owner-occupied 6-month fiixed rate from 6.99% to 7.09%, the 1-year from 6.99% to 7.09%, the 18-mnths from 6.89% to 6.95% and 2-year from 6.75% to 6.79%.

Kookmin Bank has moved its variable rate from 8.50% to 9.00%.

Police Credit Union has moved its 1-year rate from 7.20% to 7.25% and its 2-year from 6.79% to 6.89%.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
BNZ has tweaked its 6-month to 18-month rates by between 5 and 10 basis points. It means the big four now all offer 5.95% for 12 months.

Kiwi Bond rates have been raised again by between 25 and 50 basis points. See more here.

AUSSIES FEELING THE MORTGAGE STRESS
A record high 1.5 million Australians are now ‘at risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ - representing 29.2% of mortgage holders, according to new research from Roy Morgan. The number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 642,000 over the last year as the Reserve Bank of Australia increased interest rates at twelve of the last fifteen-monthly meetings. Interestingly, official interest rates in Australia are now at 4.1%, compared with our Official Cash Rate of 5.5%. The big difference across the ditch is that most Australian mortgages are on variable rates, so are quickly hiked when official rates go up. Most of our mortgage rates are fixed, so have a lag in going up. Is Australia going to prove to be a 'canary in the mine' for us?

SBS BANK LOOKS FOR UP TO $175 MLN
SBS is offering up to $125,000,000 (with the ability to accept oversubscriptions of up to an additional $50,000,000 at SBS Bank’s discretion) of 5.5 year, unsecured, senior, fixed rate bonds, maturing on March 7, 2029 to institutional investors and New Zealand retail investors. The offer closes on August 31. The Bonds are expected to be quoted on the NZX Debt Market. The interest rate for the Bonds will be set on the rate set date as being equal to the base rate plus the issue margin, subject to a minimum interest rate of 6.10% per annum. The indicative issue margin range for the Bonds is 1.40% to 1.55% per annum. The Bonds are expected to be rated BBB+ by Fitch Australia Pty Limited. The arranger is Westpac, while Westpac and Forsyth Barr are the joint lead managers.

FAST FOOD NOT FAST ENOUGH TO BEAT INFLATION
Fast food giant Restaurant Brands, purveyor of KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr and Taco Bell has produced a net profit of just $2.2 million (down from $15.3 million) for the six months to June 30, 2023. This was on total store revenue of $640.2 million. The company's chairman, José Parés, said performance was impacted significantly "due to continued input cost increases in the New Zealand business which exceeded earlier expectations of scope and quantum", lower than expected sales growth in California and Hawaii; and higher interest rates leading to increased funding costs. The business had implemented a strategic programme of price increases and cost control measures but was not able to raise prices to fully offset the cost increases during the period without significantly impacting transaction volumes. "It is critical that price increases are made at a pace and level that is cognisant of sales volumes, customer loyalty and our relativity to competitors. We remain firmly focused on these factors as we seek improved profitability in the second half of 2023," Parés said.

MIQ SECURITY PROVIDER JAILED FOR TAX EVASION
The principal of a company that provided security at three Auckland hotels used as MIQ facilities during the pandemic - receiving $300,000 payment from the Government - has been jailed for three years and one month for tax evasion. Rupert Faimoa-Magele was sentenced on 47 charges of evading or attempting to evade the assessment and or payment of GST, PAYE and income tax by his company Blade Group Limited. Faimoa-Magele evaded the assessment and/or payment of $1,077,548.23 payable for GST, Employer deductions, and Income Tax by a mixture of not filing Blade Group Limited’s tax returns and filing some returns that materially understated the tax payable.

SWAPS MIXED
Wholesale swap rates were probably little changed at shorter terms but up at longer terms, but the real reaction will come at the close. Our chart will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 5.67%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is down 2 bps at 4.16%. The China 10 year bond rate is up 4bps at 2.61%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up 2 bps to 5.07%. The UST 10 year yield is down 2 bps from late last week NZ time at 4.24%.

EQUITIES RALLY
Asian markets have rallied after China announced new measures over the weekend to support its ailing markets. But we are not getting the mood here. The NZX50 is up just 0.1% in late afternoon. The ASX200 is up 0.6%. Tokyo has opened up 1.7%. Hong Kong is up 2.0% at open, while Shanghai is bouncing 2.7% at open. Wall Street closed at the weekend with the S&P500 up 0.7% on Saturday our time.

GOLD RISES SLIGHTLY
In early Asian trade, gold is at US$1916/oz and up just very slightly on the day.

NZD MIXED
The Kiwi dollar has edged up slightly against the US currency from earlier in the day from US59c to US59.2c. Against the Aussie we have slipped from at 92.3 AUc to 92.1 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 54.7 euro cents. The TWI-5 is unchanged at 68.4.

BITCOIN HANGING ON TO $26,000
The bitcoin price is hanging tough at just over $26,000, barely changed in the past 24 hours.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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