A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; no rate changes, CPI rise beats estimates, farm sales up, dairy payout views positive, SMEs paid sooner, swaps up, NZD soft, & more

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
In case you missed it late yesterday, Westpac has followed ANZ with matching rate cuts.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
None to report today here. But we know more cuts are coming.

INFLATION BEATS ESTIMATES
Updated figures show the Consumer Price Index rose +0.7% in the September quarter and +1.5% year-on-year - both higher than expected by the RBNZ. It was higher household costs that were largely behind the rise.

VOLUMES UP, PRICES DOWN
Farm sales are up in the three months to September, but prices are slightly weaker overall. Dairy farms have suffered the biggest decrease in sales, although their prices have improved

CONSOLIDATING AT $7
Despite the fairly flat outcome in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, economists are increasingly optimistic of a strong milk price return for farmers this season.

POSITIVE DESPITE UNFRIENDLY GOVT
A new survey conducted for law firm Simpson Grierson has found 77% of the businesses contacted intend to reinvest here within the next three years. But the survey also found those surveyed though the NZ Government was running business-unfriendly policies.

CASH FLOW IMPROVEMENT
The Xero Small Business Insight Snapshot shows a drop in the average number of late payment days for small business in August. On average they are paid 7.4 days late – down from 8.9 days late in July 2019 and below the 12 month average of 8.6 days late.

TAXES UP, PRICES DOWN
Taxes on unleaded petrol have now breached $1 per litre in New Zealand (apart from Auckland) for the first time ever. (In Auckland, they did that in July when the regional fuel tax was imposed and are now up to $1.14/L.) That means that taxes on petrol have risen +2.0% in one year, but a more substantial +11.0% in two years (and since the last election). Including those taxes, discounted pump prices are remarkably down -5.8% in the same year, all according to the MBIE monitoring data.

LOWER INVESTMENT INTENTIONS
Tractor sales (registrations) that took a jump to be running over 3000 per year in mid 208, have for the first time in 2019 slipped back under that benchmark. They are now back at their seven year average. But the sudden track lower is probably a direct reflection of waning farmer confidence.

EQUITY MARKET UPDATES
Wall Street ended last nights trading up +1.0% and that followed European markets up about +1.2% (the exception being London which was unchanged). Today in early trading Tokyo is up +1.4%, Hong Kong is up +0.4% and Shanghai is up +0.6%. So far today, the ASX200 is up +1.0% and the NZX50 up +0.8%. After hitting AU$37.50 yesterday, AfterpayTouch's share price has fallen to AU$33.88 today, a -9.7% fall in 36 hours. A UBS report has triggered the reassessment.

SWAP RATES SOFT
Wholesale swap rates resumed their strong upward and steeper direction again today. The two year is up +2 bps, the five year is up +4 bps, and the ten year is up +5 bps. The 90-day bank bill rate unchanged however at 1.04%. Australian swap rates are also higher in a similar move to NZ. The Aussie Govt 10yr is up +2 bps to 1.04%. The China Govt 10yr is unchanged at 3.19%. The NZ Govt 10 yr is also up +2 bps to 1.21%. The UST 10yr yield is up +6 bps, and now at 1.75%.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDING
The Kiwi dollar is lower today at just on 62.8 USc. That was where it was this morning. It had a brief rally with the CPI release, but has fallen back since. Against the Aussie we are a little firmer at 93.2 AU cents. Against the euro we are softer at 56.9 euro cents. That means the TWI-5 has dipped to 68.2.

BITCOIN HOLDS
Bitcoin is down today at US$8.164 and that is -1.9% decline on the day. The bitcoin price is charted in the currency set below.

This chart is animated here.