A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Monday; some retail rate realignments, fewer working aged migrants, mortgage borrowers switch at faster pace, swaps stable, NZD at seven month high, & more

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Unity Money has revised its fixed rate offers, separating stand and 'special' (80% LVR or less) rates. Their 'special' rates are very bank-competitive. All rates are here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
Heartland Bank has trimmed -10 bps from its six and nine month rates today. AMP has matched that change. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

FEWER WORKING AGED MIGRANTS
There has been a big increase in the number of people aged 65 and older gaining NZ residence visas. They, along with migrants aged under 20, are contributing an increasing share of residence visa approvals, now more than a third.

HOLD OR CUT?
All eyes are now on Wednesday's OCR review. And the experts are divided. At least those on the NZIER reviewing panel are. They say the RBNZ's decision hangs between global volatility and inflation pressures

SWITCHING ACTIVITY JUMPS
Although the number of home loan borrowers who changed banks in April was lower than in March, it was still high at 2629 in the month, and on average they switched a mortgage worth $663,400. Although those levels look similar to recent months, in fact this April was special because it was +35% more switching that a year ago, the highest April ever. But the average loan size was -3% less than the year-ago level. Clearly borrowers with large loans are increasingly motivated to find a better deal.

NZX LOWER YET AGAIN
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is down -0.4% so far today, in an easing trend. It is down -0.7% for the past week, down -4.0% since the start of the year, but up +6.7% from this time last year. Turners, Vital Healthcare, SkyCity, and Property for Industry post gains, while Oceania, Freightways, The Warehouse, and Vista lead declines

HIGHER RETIREMENT AGE
In case you missed it (we did), Denmark's parliament just voted 81:21 in favour of raising their retirement age to 70 from 67. Their new law will apply to people born after December 31, 1970. Driving the change are affordability reason, and that so many there receive the state pension while they are still working.

BIG BUST
In Australia, Melbourne-headquartered national private hospital company Healthscope has collapsed. Lenders are supporting its operations until a new buyer can be found. It is Australia's only national private hospital operation and healthcare provider with a network of 38 hospitals that service every state and territory. They employ 19,000 people and provide work for nearly as many accredited medical practitioners.

SWAP RATES STILL ON HOLD
Wholesale swap rates may be little-changed yet again at the short end today limited by the lack of Wall Street demand. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The 90 day bank bill rate was down -2 bps at 3.28% on Friday. The Australian 10 year bond yield is down -6 bps at 4.39%. The China 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 1.67%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is also unchanged at 4.67% but was up +1 bp to 4.64% in the earlier RBNZ fix today from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is on 4.55%, up +4 bps.

EQUITIES MIXED
The NZX50 is down -0.4% so far today, and the ASX200 is down -0.1% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is up +0.5% in early Monday trade. Hong Kong has fallen -0.7% at its open while Shanghai is up only +0.1%. Singapore has opened down -0.4%. Wall Street is on holiday for their long Memorial Day weekend, returning Wednesday NZT. The S&P500 futures are up +1.2% at this time on news that Trump has pushed back his threat of tariffs on the EU from June 1 to July 9. TACO.

OIL HOLDS
The oil price is unchanged at just on US$61.50/bbl in the US, and down -50 USc to just over US$64.50/bbl for the international Brent price.

CARBON PRICE HOLDS
The carbon price is unchanged today at NZ$55/NZU but there is almost no volume. The next official carbon auction is on Wednesday, June 18, with a $68 floor price. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD SLIPS
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$6/oz from this morning at US$3351/oz.

NZD RISES ON FALTERING GREENBACK
The Kiwi dollar is up +30 bps from this morning, now at 60.2 USc and the fist time over 60 USc in 214 days. Against the Aussie we are up +10 bps at 92.3 AUc. Against the euro we are up +10 bps at 52.8 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now at 668 and +20 bps firmer and its highest since December 10, 2024.

BITCOIN FIRMS AGAIN
The bitcoin price is at US$109,380 and up +2.0% from this morning's open. Volatility has been modest however at +/-1.4%.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

Keep abreast of upcoming events by 8ollowing our Economic Calendar here ».