Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Heartland Bank cut its floating rate today to the lowest of any bank.
TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Wairarapa Building Society (WBS) trimmed term deposit rates today.
AFFORDABLE CAR INSURANCE
A new car insurance product is being trialed by charitable organisation Good Shepherd NZ and insurance company Vero. People accessing a Good Shepherd NZ Good Loan (funded by BNZ and/or Kiwibank) to finance a car will now have the opportunity to purchase Vero’s Drive Car Insurance, a low-cost, comprehensive car insurance product. Premiums will be fixed at just $8 per week and customers won’t pay any excess on their first claim.
RETURNING FLOCK
New survey of 15,000 expat Kiwis suggests about half of them plan to return to New Zealand, with half of those planning to arrive within the next two years. That is a stream of about +150 per month.
THINKING IT WILL BE MORE
ANZ have revised their 2020/2021 milk payout forecast to $6.70/kgMS which is a +20c lift, and making their estimate quite similar to other analysts.
BIG LOSS
The Australian Taxation Office is facing a loss of more than AU$1.15 bln plus it is facing potential class action lawsuits after it lost one of its most important and controversial tax cases involving GST and gold.
GOLD PRICE HIGHER
The price of gold has moved higher in Asian trade, now up to US$1955/oz and +US$5 higher than where it closed last week.
EQUITIES UPDATE
The NZX50 Capital Index has opened the week very strongly, up +1.8% in late trade. The ASX200 is up +1.5% in early afternoon trade. Shanghai has opened up almost +1.0%, Hong Kong is up +1.1% and Tokyo is up almost 2.0% all in very early trade. The futures trade for the S&P500 suggests Wall Street will open tomorrow up +1.4%. Markets are cheering the US election result.
SWAPS AND BOND YIELDS FIRMER
Short end rates rose from virtually zero to 0.04% on Friday; long end rates rose too. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged today at 0.29%. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is up +1 bp to 0.78%. The China Govt ten year bond is up +3 bps at 3.25%. And the New Zealand Govt ten year is up +5 bps at just under 0.60% and above the earlier RBNZ-recorded fix of 0.58% (+5 bps). And the US Govt ten year is back up +4 bps to 0.82% in the US election shadow.
NZD UP
The Kiwi dollar is firmer to start the week and now up to 68.1 USc and its highest against the USD since March 2019. Against the Aussie we are holding at 93.4 AUc. Against the euro we are a little softer at 57.2 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 has risen to 70.7.
BITCOIN SETTLES LOWER
Bitcoin is down -2.1% from this time Friday to US$15,510. The bitcoin rate is charted in the exchange rate 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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