A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; mortgage-cash back is back, FMA warns on derivatives, RBA readies more ammo, NZGB yields lower, NZD lower, & more

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
None to report today. But cash incentives are back. TSB is offering up to $4000 depending on the loan size (and financials) until October 11. ASB is now offering $2000 for loans of $250,000 and larger. (Westpac has its $10,000 interest-free 'warm up' loan too.)

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
None to report today. We are in the shadow of the RBNZ OCR review tomorrow and the related MPS.

RESTRICTED
The Financial Markets Authority has imposed conditions on the derivatives issuer license of Hong Kong-owned CLSA Premium New Zealand (formerly KVB Kunlun) that prevent the firm from making an offer to, or receiving further funds from, retail investors in relation to derivatives, (except in certain limited circumstances to close out open positions for clients).

MORE AMMO NEEDED
In Australia, their central bank says they may buy even more government debt to lower interest rates as the Aussie economy faces an uneven recovery. They are targeting their three year rate, holding it 0.25% by aggressive bond issuance and started with an AUS$84 bln warchest. But today they announced it is likely to be expanded to $140 bln or 5% of the AU$2.7 tln debt market.

GOLD PRICE SOFT
The gold price is soft in Asian markets. Last night it closed sharply lower in London at just US$1909/oz and down -US$36 on the day. It rose marginally in New York to close there at US$1912. But in open trading on Asian markets it is now at US$1910 and showing more minor softness.

EQUITIES UPDATE
After a small, late session rally the S&P500 ended down -1.2% in New York. (At one point it was down -2.6% mirroring European markets.) At their opening, Shanghai is down -0.6%, the same as in Hong Kong. Tokyo is closed for a holiday today. The ASX200 is down -0.6% and falling in early afternoon trade. The NZX50 Capital Index is up +0.5% in late trade.

SWAP RATES LITTLE-CHANGED
We don’t have the final data for today yet and if it is significant we will update it here. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 0.30%. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is down -1 bp at 0.91%. The China Govt ten year bond is unchanged at 3.13%. The New Zealand Govt ten year is down -2 bps at 0.51% and below the earlier RBNZ-recorded fix of 0.53%. And the NZGB five year is even more negative at -0.05% pa now. The US Govt ten year is down -3 bps at 0.67%.

NZD LOWER
After falling hard last night, the Kiwi dollar is firming slightly today but is still down -1c at 66.7 USc. Against the Aussie we are little-changed at 92.5 AUc. Against the euro we are -½c softer at 56.7 euro cents. That means our TWI-5 has fallen to 69.9.

BITCOIN DOWN
Bitcoin is lower today and down -4.6% from this time yesterday at US$10,453.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».