A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Thursday; more rate cuts from majors again, Kiwibank reports record profit, regions suffering, emissions falling, NIMs stable, swaps stable, NZD holds, & 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
There has been a lot of changes in the past 24 hours, headlined by more cuts by ASB. And they again have one of the lowest cards. Bank of China also cut. All rates are here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
ASB also make deepish cuts to their term deposit rates at the same time. Westpac has also cut their TD rates for 6 to 12 months but raising their 4 & 5 month rates. Bank of China also cut. And now Treasury has chopped its Kiwi Bond interest rates. More here. All updated rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

KIWIBANK REPORTS RECORD PROFIT
'Maverick' Kiwibank nets a record $202 mln profit in the year to June 2024 by growing its lending book +9.3% to $32.4 billion. It says it is up for the challenge of 'taking on' the big four banks.

'CLEARLY WEAKER'
Infometrics said weaker economic activity and falling employment are hitting regional economies, with the economic crunch deepening across the country. Provisional estimates in the June 2024 Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor, suggests that economic activity in the June 2024 quarter was 0.2%pa lower than a year ago, turning year-end growth negative, at -0.2%pa, too.

SAME OLD STORY; INDUSTRY EMISSIONS DOWN, HOUSEHOLD EMISSIONS UP
Stats NZ reported that regional greenhouse gas emissions estimates for the year ended 2023 compared with the year ended 2022 show total regional emissions decreased -1.8% (down -1,440 kilotonnes) to 76,809 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂-e). The largest decrease in emissions was in Waikato, down 772 kilotonnes (-5.3%), and the largest increase was Canterbury, up +404 kilotonnes (+3.3%). Industry emissions decreased -2.2% (-1,545 kilotonnes), largely due to electricity, gas, water, and waste services in Waikato, down -20% (-541 kilotonnes), and manufacturing in Northland, down -27% (254 kilotonnes). Household emissions increased +1.3% (+105 kilotonnes).

EARNINGS SEASON UPDATES
Our NZX50 profiles have been updated today with the recent release of full year results to June 30, 2024 for Genesis, (GNE, #18), for Auckland Airport (AIA, #3) and SkyCity Entertainment (SKC, #26).. Maybe one day in the future, we will be covering Kiwibank as a listed public company too. Who knows?

STRONG RETURN OF PASSENGERS
Auckland Airport’s underlying profit rose amid strong passenger growth. They said the total number of passengers and domestic visitors that went through the country’s biggest airport was up +17% to almost 18.5 million in the 2024 June-year. But they also warned of future capacity challenges.

NZX EQUITY MARKET UPDATE
Check out our new quick update of how the NZX is faring today, as at 3pm. We welcome comments on that update story.

HARRIS PINGED $1.4 MLN
The High Court has ordered Peter Harris, the former CBL Corporation (In Liquidation) managing director, to pay a penalty of $1.4 mln for continuous disclosure and misleading conduct breaches following proceedings brought by the FMA.

DU VAL DISASTER
The Government has put the South Auckland developer Du Val companies into statutory management after a 'complex corporate failure'. Statutory management is a remedy for only the most egregious collapses.

CONFIRMED - NIMS ARE HIGH
Bank NIMs (net interest margin) came in at 2.35% in June 2024, down from 2.38% in the same quarter in 2023 but quite elevated from the ten year average for this June quarter of 2.15%. (Over all quarters for the past ten years the average has been 2.14%.) This data is for all 27 registered banks operating in New Zealand. Not all of them offer retail services.

A GOOD EXPANSION
In Japan, although it rose, its August factory PMI is still contracting, slightly. On the other had Japan's service sector is expanding at a good rate. That is the seventh consecutive expansion in their services sector.

A MODEST EXPANSION
In Australia, their August PMI's sort of mirrored Japan but at a slightly lower level. The factory PMI is up but still contracting. Their services PMI is expanding although only at a modest rate.

SWAP RATES HOLD
Wholesale swap rates are probably little-changed today although they may firm slightly from here. Our chart below will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is down -1 bps at 5.24%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is unchanged at 3.92%. The China 10 year bond rate is up +2 bps at 2.15%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +3 bps at 4.25% and the earlier RBNZ fix was at 4.17% and up +1 bp from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is down -1 bp from yesterday at 3.81%. Their 2yr is now at 3.94%, so that curve has now tightened up,  inverted by just -13 bps.

EQUITIES MIXED
The NZX50 is down another -0.4% in Thursday trade. The ASX200 is up +0.3% in afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened up +0.6%. Hong Kong is up a mere +0.1% at its open. Shanghai is down -0.1%. Singapore is also down -0.1% at its open. The S&P500 ended its Wednesday session on Wall Street up +0.4%.

OIL EASES AGAIN
The oil price is down -US$1.50 from yesterday at just over US$71.50/bbl in the US, and at just over US$75.50/bbl for the international Brent price.

CARBON PRICE STAYS UP
Today the carbon price is unchanged at $60/NZU today. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD SLIPS FROM HIGH
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$17 from yesterday, now at US$2501/oz and a new high.

NZD MARGINALLY FIRMER
The Kiwi dollar is unchanged from this time yesterday, now at 61.5 USc. Against the Aussie we are up +20 bps at 91.4 AUc. Against the euro we are also down -10 bps at 55.2 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is up +10 bps from yesterday at 69.5.

BITCOIN FIRMISH
The bitcoin price has risen +0.9% from this time yesterday, now at US$59,950. Volatility of the past 24 hours has been moderate at just on +/- 2.6%.

USE OF AI
No articles on this news service are produced with AI. Occasionally we use AI to derive images. They are always identified in the attribution.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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