A review of things you need to know before you sign off on Monday; minor retail rate changes, no spring real estate market bounce, GSCI low & stable, swaps, NZX and NZD all stable, & 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
No changes to note today. All current mortgage rates are here. And note, you can compare mortgage offers with our unique calculator that takes into account other costs and cashback incentives, here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank added +5 bps to its 6 month TD rate, but that only takes it to the levels ASB and BNZ were already at. NBS also made some minor changes to the savings rates, up & down. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

MISSING: A SPRING BOUNCE
QV sees no spring in the housing market's step as values decline in most parts of the country. They see wary buyers.

TRYING TO SAVE GAMBLING ADDICTS FROM THEMSELVES
Aussie regulator ASIC notes that most 'investors' lose money when they trade CFDs. They are more like short term wagers than real investing. The say "our most recent data indicates losses over a 12-month period exceeded AU$458 million, including AU$73 million in fees." As a consequence, they are moving to extend close oversight of the CFD industry, close loopholes, and tighten regulation, for another ten years.

LOW & STABLE
For a third consecutive month, the pace of supplier cost increases to Foodstuffs supermarkets in September was again unchanged at +1.9% from a year ago according to the Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index (GSCI) .

NZX50 LITTLE-CHANGED
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is little-changed today. From a week ago it is It is up +0.3%; from six months ago it is up +5.5%. From a year ago it is only up +2.9% now. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is up +0.7% so far today. Ryman, EBOS Group, Argosy and Channel Infrastructure rise while Property for Industry, Contact, Spark and Fletcher fall.

SWAP RATES HOLD
Wholesale swap rates will likely be little-changed today. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The RBNZ 90 day rate was unchanged at 3.22% on Friday. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is holding at 5.35%. The China 10 year bond rate is now at 1.67% and down -5 bps. The Japanese 10 year bond is now at 3.00% and down -2 bps. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 5.07% and down -1 bp from this morning. (The RBNZ 10 year rate is 'prior day' and was down -5 bps at 5.06% on Friday.) And the UST 10yr yield is now at 5.22% and down -8 bps from this morning.

EQUITIES MOSTLY FIRMER, WITH EXCEPTIONS
The NZX50 has firmed +0.2% from Friday's close. The ASX200 has opened up +0.8%. Tokyo is little-changed. The KOSPI is down -1.9% at its open. Hong Kong is up +0.7% in Monday trade while Shanghai down -0.2%. Singapore is up +0.5% in early Monday trade. Wall Street will open tomorrow even though it is Columbus Day and the futures market suggests it will open up +0.9%.

OIL PRICES EASES
American oil prices have fallen -US$1.50 from this morning with the WTI benchmark now at just over US$90/bbl, while the international Brent price is just under US$103/bbl. But the spreading war between Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia just hot hotter.

CARBON PRICE SLIPS AGAIN
There have a few trades but the price has slipped -$1 to $51.50/NZU. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD MARGINALLY FIRMER
In early Asian trade, gold has risen +US$18/oz from this morning, now at US$4212/oz. Silver is little-changed at US$61/oz.

NZD HOLDS
The Kiwi dollar is holding just under 56.2 USc from where we were this morning. Against the Aussie we are just a tad lower at 80.3 AUc. Against the euro we are still at 50.1 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is is still just on 59.9 and essentially the same as today's open.

BITCOIN UNCHANGED
The bitcoin price is now at US$83,626 and virtually unchanged from where we opened this morning. Volatility has been low also at just under +/- 0.8%.

GO THE ABs!

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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