A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Thursday; no retail rate changes, house values fall again, construction red tape in focus, NZGB yields rise, swaps and NZD stable, & 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
None to report today, so far at least. All rates are here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
The Police Credit Union trimmed its Notice Saver rate. All updated rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

PRICES SLIDE FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT MONTH
National median house values declined for the sixth month in a row in August, according to CoreLogic

PROTECTING THEIR MILK SUPPLY
Synlait have raised their 2024/25 payout to $8.60/kgMS from $8.00 to stay competitive and not lose any more milk supply.

LESS RED TAPE IN BUILDING INDUSTRY
More details are emerging of the Coalition Governments moves to make house building more affordable. Law changes have been signaled that will target each level of the building product system and will enable recognition of overseas standards and standards certification schemes, therefore removing the need for designers, builders or Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) to verify standards; streamline the citing of international standards with the new Building Product Specification, which can be used with Building Code documents to show compliance with the Building Code, and require BCAs to accept building products certified overseas and recognised by MBIE as regulator. Other changes include streamlining building consent changes by making it easier for minor variations and customisation to be made without the need for a new consent and exempting projects under $65,000 from paying the building levy.

NZX EQUITY MARKET UPDATE
Check out our quick update of how the NZX is faring today, as at 3pm. We welcome comments on that update story. We have added some key index fund performance tracking.

'WE CAN DO THAT TOO'
As at the beginning of April, there were no recorded infections of Micoplasma bovis (MPB). The Labour Government's plan to eradicate it, sceptically viewed by many in the industry, has been successful. Copying that strategy, the Coalition government has adopted a recommended MPI plan should Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) occur here. To be fair, FMD could have a much more critical economic impact that MPB did.

YIELDS RISE
104 bids were received today for the three tranches in today's NZGB bond tenders. They exceeded $1.1 bln for the $500 mln on offer. The May 2030 $225 mln went for a yield of 3.87%, down from 3.97% at the equivalent tender of this maturity one week ago. The May 2034 tranche went for a yield of 4.19% and up from 4.17% three weeks ago. The final May 2041 $50 mln went for a yield of 4.60% and up from 4.50% three weeks ago.

BIGGER SURPLUS THAN EXPECTED
Australia's merchandise trade surplus rose in July to its highest since since February as exports grew to a 5-month high while imports fell to a 3-month low.

UP MORE THAN EXPECTED
Wages in Japan rose by 3.6% year-on-year in July, slowing from a 4.5% rise in June which was the highest in 26 years, since January 1997. Markets expected a July rise of 3.1%.

SWAP RATES HOLD AT SHORT END
Wholesale swap rates are probably little-changed at the short end again today. Our chart below will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is down -4 bps at 5.15%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is down -2 bps at 3.96%. The China 10 year bond rate is down -1 bp at 2.14%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is down -2 bps at 4.24% and the earlier RBNZ fix was at 4.18% and down another -6 bps from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is down -6 bps at 3.77%. Their 2yr is also now at 3.77%, so that inversion has gone.

EQUITIES MOVE LITTLE
The NZX50 is up +0.3% in its late Thursday trade.The ASX200 is up +0.3% in afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened its Wednesday trade down +0.4% at its open. Hong Kong is down -0.1% and Shanghai has opened up +0.1%. Singapore is up +0.4% at its open. Wall Street slipped earlier today, with the S&P500 off by -0.2% in Wednesday trade.

OIL DOWN
The oil price is down from this time yesterday at just on US$69.50/bbl in the US, and at just over US$72.50/bbl for the international Brent price.

CARBON PRICE LITTLE-CHANGED
Today the carbon price is marginally firmer today at $61.50/NZU. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD STABLE
In early Asian trade, gold is up a minor +US$3 from yesterday at US$2498/oz.

NZD STABLE
The Kiwi dollar is up +20 bps from this time yesterday, now at 62 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -10 bps at 92.1 AUc. And against the euro we are unchanged at 55.9 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now just on 70 and up +10 bps.

BITCOIN FIRMS
The bitcoin price is up +1.7% from this time yesterday, now at US$57,671. Volatility of the past 24 hours has been moderate at just on +/- 2.1%.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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