A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; a key mortgage rate cut, many TD cuts, dairy prices jump, housing value up sharply, swaps unchanged, NZD soft, & more

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
ANZ cut its one year fixed 'special' home loan rate to 2.55%, the lowest in the market and below all its main rivals. They cut most other rates as well. The Co-operative Bank and TSB both also cut fixed mortgage rates too.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
ANZ, Cooperative Bank and Bank of China all cut term deposit rates.

FINELY BALANCED
The QV House Price Index shows property values have flattened out but it's too early to say if they are at the edge of a cliff or will start to rise again.

COURT OF APPEAL BACKS UP HIGH COURT RULING THAT HARMONEY FEE IS A CREDIT FEE
The Court of Appeal has backed up a High Court decision that the fee peer-to-peer lender Harmoney charges to borrowers for arranging loans is a credit fee. However, the Court of Appeal judgment, issued on Wednesday after a hearing in mid-March, says the High Court did err in finding that the investors were creditors. Harmoney has been ordered to pay the Commerce Commission's costs.

CAPPED
The Government says a planned +1600 rise in numbers of migrant seasonal workers next year won't now go ahead as 'more New Zealanders will be available to do this work'. That means 14,400 of seasonal migrant workers will be allowed to enter the country in 2021.

A WATER DEAL
Government puts a deal on the table for local authorities: You give up some of your autonomy and team up to meet new water standards, we help cover the costs. The carrot is $760 mln in subsidies.

WMP UP +14%
A big surprise rise in dairy prices, driven by whole milk powder prices, affirms new season farm gate forecasts. But can they hold up at this new level?

CAUGHT, OUT
Australian high-cost short-term lender Quadsaa (trading as Pretty Penny and PPL) has undertaken to write off all outstanding loan balances in a settlement agreement with the Commerce Commission. It has also quit New Zealand operations.

LAST GASP?
In is what is likely to be just of historical interest, the RBNZ is reporting that the total value of New Zealand's housing stock rose +9.0% in the year to March, to $1.23 tln. That is a gain of +$40 bln in the first 90 days of 2020 (and only the September 2016 quarter was more). The split between owner-occupied and rental (business) won't be known until September 4. However we will need to wait until October to learn how the June quarter has been affected.

'TEMPORARY' BECOMING PERMANENT
The Australian Federal Treasurer said he will announce an extension to the wage support program on July 23. This, along with the Aussie banks agreeing to extend their mortgage support program, probably means these 'temporary' programs are going to have a long life, especially as Australia seems to be moving into a pandemic second wave that will likely require widespread and increasingly serious lock downs. The economic 'cliff' these subsidy programs bring is hard to avoid. But the Aussie Government budget deficit for the current year would reach AU$240 bln - and that is before an expected announcements of tax cuts to support the economy. A budget deficit of 25% of GDP is not unlikely now, a huge turnaround from a Government that claimed it would be in surplus by now less than a year ago

HIDING THE REAL SITUATION
Aussie regulator APRA is now involved in extending regulatory distortions to ensure that non-performing loans are not classified that way by banks. It is all being done to sanitise the real impact of the deferrals policy. Regulatory collusion, even leading such distortions, are somewhat surprising as this same regulator used to be the champion and guardian of honest, transparent reporting by banks. ASIC is complicit too, turning a blind eye. At some point investors in bank shares will discount their investment. Will the bank's auditors join in the sanitising? Today, ANZ's share price is down -1.2%, CBA is down -0.1%, NAB is down -1.5% and Westpac is also down -1.5%.

EQUITY MARKET UPDATES
On Wall Street, the S&P500 gave up more ground at the end in a sharpish sell-off, down -1.1% on the day. Shanghai has opened up +0.3%, to build on the strong gains earlier in the week. It is a market driven by upbeat market commentary from state run publications and a boost in liquidity making shares seem irresistible. Hong Kong is also up +0.3%, but Tokyo is lower by -0.2% in early trade. The ASX200 is down -0.5% in mid-afternoon trade. The NZX50 looks like it will close down -0.6%.

SWAP RATES UPDATE
Swap rates are probably unchanged today especially short rates. We don't have final wholesale swap rates movement details yet but we will update this later in the day if they show a significant movement. The 90-day bank bill rate is unchanged at 0.31%. The Aussie Govt 10yr is down -2 bps to 0.89%. The China Govt 10yr is holding higher at 3.09%. The NZ Govt 10yr yield is down -4 bps however to 0.96%. The UST 10yr is also down another -2 bps at 0.65%.

NZ DOLLAR SOFTER
The Kiwi dollar is marginally lower today, now at 65.4 USc. Against the Aussie we are firmer at 94.2 AUc. Against the euro we are little-changed at 58 euro cents. And that means the TWI-5 is now just under 70.2.

BITCOIN UNCHANGED
The price of bitcoin is unchanged since this time yesterday at US$9,313. 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 ».