sign up log in
Want to go ad-free? Find out how, here.

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; big New Year rate cut, jobs decline, retail bifurcates, bank depositors go short, NZX50 dives, yields soft, NZD softer, & more

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; big New Year rate cut, jobs decline, retail bifurcates, bank depositors go short, NZX50 dives, yields soft, NZD softer, & more
ID 22702269 © Daniaphoto | Dreamstime.com

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac cut its one year fixed rate 'special' by -20 bps to 2.29%.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Westpac cut its Notice Saver and bonus saver rates today.

JOBS IN DECLINE
Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland posted large falls in employment in November, with female and youth job losses becoming more pronounced.

A YEAR OF TWO QUARTERS
Although pandemic-affected retail spending in 2020 delivered zero overall gains, there were wide regional and sector variances with many winners and a few big losers. This is according to analysis of Paymark data.

INVESTORS GO EVER SHORTER
Bank customer depositors continue to reject term deposits, even short ones. For the first time since March 2009, more than 75% of all customer deposits are now at the bank either at call (58%) or in accounts that mature in less than 90 days. (At September 2010 that proportion was at its lowest point in between at 64%.)

EQUITIES UPDATE
The NZX50 Capital Index has fallen heavily today, down -1.7% in late trade. The energy companies are being hit very hard indeed, but many others are under pressure too, including market leader FPH which is down -1.1% so far. It is enough to wipe out all of last week's 'healthy' rises. The ASX200 is down -0.5% in early afternoon trade. At its open, Shanghai is down -0.5% but Hong Kong is up +0.4%. Tokyo is on holiday today (Old Age Day). The S&P500 futures suggests Wall Street will open tomorrow with a -0.5% drop.

SWAP & BOND RATES SOFT
We don't have todays swap rate movements yet. If there are material changes when the end-of-day swap rates are available, we will update them here. The RBNZ has issues so it has not released benchmark rates today or "until further notice". The 90 day bank bill rate is delayed as well although it is likely to be unchanged at 0.27%. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is down -2 bps at 1.08%. The China Govt ten year bond is unchanged at 3.20%. The New Zealand Govt ten year is down -2 bps at 1.07%. The US Govt ten year is up +2 bps at 1.12%.

USD MAKES A RECOVERY
Against the US Dollar, the Kiwi dollar is down at 71.9 USc and losing -½c from where we opened this morning. On the cross rates we are little-changed against the Aussie at 93.3 AUc. Against the euro we have dipped to 59.1 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 is now at 73.4 and a relatively small slip.

BITCOIN SLIDES SHARPLY
Today the bitcoin price is sliding lower, now at US$37,512. That is -8.3% lower in 24 hours and down -US$1857 or -4.7% from where we opened this morning. The current price is almost the same as where it opened here this morning. Update: It has moved faster down since. See this.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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

Daily exchange rates

Select chart tabs

Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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.

9 Comments

Oh dear. My imaginary internet tokens are taking a dive.

Up
0

Mine too. This is where you grab your b*lls and buy the dip :)

Up
0

No you should never play that game, why the hell would you pay 50,000NZD for a Bitcoin? You should have bought when it was 2000NZD....
But then again, if it goes to 150,000USD you will be saying why the hell didn't I buy at 50,000NZD.
These are the things that disturb me. Because I don't know what the true price discovery of anything is anymore!!

Up
0

why the hell would you pay 50,000NZD for a Bitcoin?

You don't have to pay UZD50K. $100 would buy you BTC0.0021. Not many NZers will ever own a full Bitcoin. Doesn't mean they cannot own Satoshis.

Up
0

Because it's gambling at worst,speculating at best.

Up
0

Rosenstein
" . . .buy the dip" - no hurry then? :)

Up
0

Are you referring to the sharemarket or BTC?

Up
0

Westpac bonus saver has now got the same interest rate as Kiwibonds! 0.2% pa.

Up
0

I had a reasonable sum in term deposits two years ago across two banks. As of 22nd this month they are almost wholly removed. I started taking them out when rates went sub 3%.

But with Westpac continuing to cut deposit and mortgage rates I’m wondering what their model is? They have to hold a certain amount of domestic funding; that must be in peril. And it appears they are happy with a race to the bottom until NZ ends with a banking sector as perilous as in Europe.

Up
0