A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Thursday; Westpac rate cuts, surging business confidence, Heartland provisions rise, Air NZ earnings turbulence, NZ dollar strengthens a bit

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
Westpac has literally just announced a fresh round of fixed-term cuts, effective Friday. They're for its six-month to four-year rates. For the bank's "special" rates, cuts range from a four basis points trim to its six-month rate, to a 20 basis points reduction to its two-year rate, taking that to 5.79%.
Kainga Ora has also made a series of rate cuts. See all mortgage rates here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
Westpac has also cut six, eight, nine, 12 and 18-month term deposit rates, plus its two-year rate, by five to 10 basis points. ASB cut its 'Headstart' and 'FastSaver' rates by 25 basis points each. And ICBC cut some term deposit rates by up to 25 basis points. All savings rates are here.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE JUMPS, FROM A LOW EBB
ANZ's latest Business Outlook Survey shows business confidence has soared to its highest level in a decade. The headline 'confidence' measure in the survey jumped 23 points to a decade-high +51 in August, while the 'expected own activity' measure put on 21 points to +37, a seven-year high. ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said although the latest survey "showed a flurry of optimism," the hurdle for expecting better times ahead is "very low."

'RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ECONOMIC CONDITIONS' HIT HEARTLAND
Heartland Group Holdings' annual profit after tax fell 22% as loan impairments rose and expenses increased. Heartland's June-year profit came in at $74.5 million versus $95.9 million last year. Loan impairments doubled to $46.4 million, with Heartland's management saying the business was impacted by rapidly deteriorating economic conditions in May and June, leading to additional provisions in its asset finance, motor finance and rural portfolios. Operating expenses rose $11.3 million, or 9%, to $139.4 million. Net operating income rose $864,000 to $290.7 million, with net interest income falling. A final dividend of 3 cents per share will be paid, down from 5.5c last year. Heartland said its profit on an underlying basis of $102.7 million was 4.9% below its guidance. No guidance for the new financial year was provided.

AIR NZ PROFIT TUMBLES
Air New Zealand's annual profit fell to $146 million from $412 million last year, and the airline's not providing any profit guidance for its new financial year.

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

NZ CONTINUES CLIMATE TALKS WITH CHINA
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced the Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu, is leaving NZ today after the Fifth Ministerial Climate Change Dialogue between NZ and China. Watts said China was an important climate partner for NZ and “vital” to efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change globally. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the NZ-China Climate Change Cooperation Arrangement, which involves the two countries engaging on climate friendly issues like green finance and the Emissions Trading Scheme. Watts said a lot of innovation had occurred over the last decade. He added NZ was committed to “strengthening cooperation in areas of shared interest with China” which include carbon markets and nature based solutions to climate change.

JAMES AND THE GIANT CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS
Former Climate Change Minister James Shaw thinks solutions to climate change represent the greatest investment opportunity for NZ since the rebuild after World War II. Speaking to the Building Nations Conference, Shaw described climate solutions as being infrastructure related in "virtually every category that you can think of."

WESTPAC NZ TO ISSUE PERPETUAL PREFERENCE SHARES
Westpac NZ is looking to borrow $100 million, plus unlimited oversubscriptions at its own discretion, via a perpetual preference share (PPS) issue. The PPS won't have a fixed term and will remain on issue indefinitely if not redeemed by Westpac NZ. The distribution rate for investors, until a first optional redemption date, will be a fixed rate equal to the sum of the swap rate plus the margin, after which it will change to a floating rate that resets quarterly. The PPS have a BBB+ S&P credit rating, four notches below the bank's own AA- rating. The PPS will be Additional Tier 1 Capital for Westpac NZ's regulatory capital requirements.

NZD STRENTHENS
The Kiwi dollar has firmed a little over the course of the day, rising to US62.86 cents from US62.3c this morning, to AU92.51 from AU92c, and to 56.45 euro cents from 56.1c this morning.

GOVT BOND TENDER
Details of today's government bond tender are here.

SWAP RATES 
Our chart below will record the final positions today for wholesale swap rates.

CARBON PRICE HIGHER
The carbon price is marginally higher at $61/NZU, than the $60.70/NZU it was at this time yesterday. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

BITCOIN UP SLIGHTLY
The bitcoin price is up slightly at the time of writing, at US$59,140. 

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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