Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac was the next to cut rates, launching a low 2 year rate. But they were trumped later by ASB who went lower. And later still, BNZ offered all their Classic rates below 3%, a first for any bank. And finally, Kiwibank launched a 2.65% one year rate, a new all-time low. It has been quite the day for mortgage rate cuts.
TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No announcements today from any bank - but expect a slew of cuts next week as banks move to protect their margins after some aggressive mortgage rate cuts. In the non-bank set, First Credit Union cut rates across the board.
SME/MICROs FLOCK TO NON-BANK LOAN SCHEME
The Government's IRD administered Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has lent more than $824 mln to more than 47,000 SMEs so far. It is a total that will grow. In fact, next week we may be reporting a total in excess of $1 bln.
IT'S NOW MULLER & KAYE
The National Party has changed its leadership just four months out from the election. This comes after some very poor poll results.
STABLE ON THE SURFACE, UNSTABLE BENEATH
March quarter retail sales results are out - and they are now pretty much irrelevant. For the record, they were up +3.4% year-on-year, the same increase reported for Q4-2019. Large rises for supermarkets, pharmacies and online traders more than offset steep falls for things like petrol, restaurants and travel.
5 DOWN, 5 UP
Fitch Ratings have held Australian credit rating at AAA, but downgraded its outlook to 'Negative". They say GDP will fall -5% this coming year, and then rise by about the same amount the following year.
AUCKLAND COUNCIL IN A TOUGH SPOT
The Council today said it is facing revenue reductions for public transport, regulatory revenue, water charges, fuel tax receipts, revenue from events and community facilities and dividends from Auckland International Airport. This has been exacerbated by the current drought situation and associated water restrictions. It says that will involve lower revenues of at least $550 mln. It is deferring or cancelling many projects, and raising many fees. Rate rises will be very hard to push through.
OVERSEAS VOLATILITY HURTS KIWISAVER
RBNZ monitoring of the value of KiwiSaver balances (T43) reveals that for the first time ever, that value has decreased. At December, the value was $65.5 bln. As at March 2020 is was down -$2.0 bln to $63.5 bln. Interestingly, the investments in New Zealand fell the least, those overseas the most. The overseas components have fallen five separate times over the years.
LOCAL UPDATE
There was one new case today (inside an existing isolated family group) taking the total to 1504 Covid-19 cases identified as either confirmed (1154) or probable (350). Twenty-one people have died giving a death rate of 1.4%. There is still only one person left in hospital with the disease, and they have now been moved to the ICU. Our recovery rate is still just under 97%, with only 28 people known to be still fighting the infection (-2).
AUSTRALIA UPDATE
In Australia, there are now 7095 cases (+14 since yesterday), 101 deaths (+1) and a recovery rate of just on 91%. 41 people are in hospital there (-2) with 9 in ICU (unchanged). There are now 509 active cases in Australia (-26).
GLOBAL UPDATE
The latest compilation of Covid-19 data is here. The global tally is now 5,102,400 and up +106,700 from this time yesterday. Now, just 31% of all cases globally are in the US, which is up +25,000 to 1,551,700. US deaths are now exceed 95,000. Global deaths now exceed 333,000.
EQUITIES UPDATES
Earlier today, the S&P500 ended its session down -0.8%. At their open today, Shanghai (-1.1%) and Hong Kong (-3.7%) are very much lower in their final sessions today, Tokyo (-0.4%) marginally lower. The ASX200 is heading for a -0.4% slip and the NZX50 Capital Index is headed for the same. That means the NZX50 will end the week flat. The ASX looks like it will end the week up +2.0%.
SWAP RATES UPDATE
We don't have wholesale swap rates movement details today yet but early suggestions are little-changed. We will update this later in the day if they show a significant movement. The 90-day bank bill rate is marooned at its record low 0.25%. The Aussie Govt 10yr is -4 bps lower at 0.89%. The China Govt 10yr is also down -5 bps at 2.65%. The NZ Govt 10 yr yield is little-changed at 0.63%. The UST 10yr has slipped back to 0.65% today and down -1 bp.
NZ DOLLAR SOFT
The Kiwi dollar is just a little softer today, now at 61.1 USc. Against the Aussie we are also marginally softer at 93.3 AUc. Against the euro we are little-changed at 55.8 euro cents. That means the TWI-5 is down to 66.9.
BITCOIN DOWN
The price of Bitcoin is lower by -4.5% today, down to US$9,053. 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 ».
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