Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Heartland Bank cut its reverse mortgage interest rate by -45 bps from 6.95% to 6.50%.
TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Co-operative Bank made a set of TD reductions today, as did the Nelson Building Society. NBS also cut ist on-call account interest rates pretty hard, taking 'good' rates down to where the market is fallen to.
EXTREME LOWS
Full results of the ANZ business confidence survey for the month of April paint a grim picture - but marginally less grim than the preliminary results of the same survey released earlier in the month. In any event, they are still the worst on record.
TEMPORARY TAX RULES
The IRD has made a "temporary determination" during the work-from-home lockdown period that certain costs may be reimbursed without income tax implications for either the employee or employer. These rules are here. It is clear that these rules only apply if the employer chooses to make such payments.
TACKLING LOAN SHARKS WITH URGENCY
Parliament is moving to fast-track new laws tackling loan-sharking. Instead of coming into effect on June 1, they will take effect as soon as the law is passed (in the next few days). Essentially, it will mean borrowers can't be required to pay total interest more than the amount borrowed for "high-cost short-term loans", compound interest for high-cost loans will be banned, and fees will be limited to $30 unless it can be shown that costs are higher. "High-cost short-term" loans are loans with terms from 2 days to six weeks.
THE BIG BANKS HAVE CAPTURED MOST KIWISAVER ACCOUNTS
Morningstar's monitoring of KiwiSaver funds shows overall values dropped -$4.5 bln in the three months to March 2020, down to $59.1 bln. ANZ has the largest market share with 23.5% of all KiwiSaver funds, followed by ASB with 18.3%. Westpac holds third spot ahead of AMP, while Fisher
Funds sits in fifth spot. The six largest KiwiSaver providers account for approximately 80% of assets on the Morningstar database.
A ONE BRAND BAND
The latest Global Dairy Update from Fonterra reveals that the GlobalDairyTrade platform is now essentially only supported by Fonterra on the supply side. At the April 21 auction, 19,739 tonnes of the product sold was from Fonterra's and only 862 tonnes were from other suppliers. That is a 96% share. Despite this effective one-supplier basis, the platform still attracted 113 bidders at the last auction.
CHEAPER & MORE POPULAR
Another $800 mln was tendered today by Treasury in three bond series. Overall these received bids for $2.3 bln. Yields achieved for each of the three series offered were very much lower than at the previous equivalent tenders.
SUDDEN SPURT
Household deposits jumped a remarkable +$4.5 bln in the one month from February to March, reaching a new record high of $189 bln. The one-month jump was far, far higher that the +$2.6 bln that occurred in October 2008. Households clearly see bank accounts as safe places to park emergency funds.
DEBT CHANGES
Mortgage debt grew +7.1% in the year to March, exceeding $280 bln for the first time. Mortgage debt rose +$1.4 bln in one month. Business lending growth was also strong, growing +6.2%. But lending to the rural sector has stalled with no growth. Personal debt (credit card and personal loans) is shrinking, down to $16.1 bln and its lowest absolute level in 30 months.
LOCAL UPDATE
There are 1476 Covid-19 cases identified in New Zealand, with +2 new cases today, the same increase as yesterday. Nineteen people have died, unchanged from yesterday, almost all geriatric patients. There are seven people in hospital with the disease (+1), but none are in ICU. Our recovery rate is now up over 84% and rising.
AUSTRALIA UPDATE
In Australia, there are now 6746 cases (up +15), 89 deaths (+6) and a recovery rate of just on 84%, unchanged. 93 people are in hospital (-16) with 38 in ICU (-4).
GLOBAL UPDATE
The latest compilation of Covid-19 data is here. The global tally is now 3,191,800 and up +76,000 from this time yesterday which is the same level of growth. Now, just under 33% of all cases globally are in the US, which is up +26,000 since this time yesterday taking the total to 1,038,500 and the only country to exceed 1 mln cases. This is also an unchanged level of increase. US deaths now exceed 61,000. Global deaths are about to exceed 227,000. The rise in new infections has reversed in Europe and there is a general tailing off - except in the UK where they are remaining worryingly high, and in Sweden where they have also leveled off at a high rate. Russia and Brazil are where the big increases are still coming from. China's recovery rate is now up to 93% but that still leaves it with 5500 active cases.
EQUITY UPDATE
The NZX50 Capital Index has lost some ground today after its recent strong showing, down -0.8% so far. Today, the ASX200 is up +0.8%. Overnight, the S&P500 fell -0.5% after European markets rose about +1.5%. At their opening today, Shanghai is up +0.4%, Hong Kong is up a minor +0.2%, while Tokyo is flat.
SWAP RATES UPDATE
Update: Swap rates fell today across the curve, and that took them to record low levels. We don't have wholesale swap rates movement details today yet. We will update this later in the day if they show a significant change. There were a few small rises yesterday in wholesale swap rates, clawing back a small portion of the prior days hard falls. The 90-day bank bill rate is up +1 bps from its record low, now at 0.27%. The Aussie Govt 10yr is also little-changed at 0.93%. The China Govt 10yr is also unchanged at 2.52%. The NZ Govt 10 yr yield has fallen again, today down -8 bps to 0.75%. The UST 10yr is unchanged from this time yesterday at 0.62%.
NZ DOLLAR GAINS MORE
The Kiwi dollar has risen again today, back to 61.3 USc. Against the Aussie we have also risen, to 93.7 AUc. Against the euro we are up at 56.5 euro cents. That means the TWI-5 is up to 67.2 and a six week high.
BITCOIN LEAPS
The price of Bitcoin is continuing is rather remarkable rise, up +17% from this time yesterday to US$9,164 in its current halving hype. The bitcoin price is charted in the currency set below.
This soil moisture chart is animated here.
The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.