A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; many mortgage and TD rate changes, Marsden Point refinery to close, NZ's reserve assets fall, swaps stable, NZD stays firm, & more

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
HSBC lowered all their fixed rates. More here. SBS Bank launched a new and comprehensive offer for first home buyers. More here. Kiwibank has announced its 2 year fixed rate will be raised from 2.49% to 2.79% on Monday.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Treasury raised Kiwi Bond rates today with the 6 months and 1 year up +10 bps, the two year up +30 bps to 0.50%, and the four year up +10 bps to 0.70%. Meanwhile Kiwibank has ended its 9 month 1.25% 'special' with that rate reverting to 0.95%.

ALL IN FAVOUR, PLEASE SAY WHY
At the Special Meeting of the shareholders of The New Zealand Refining Company (NZR) they voted to approve transition the company to an import-only fuel terminal, under the name ‘Channel Infrastructure’. The vote was 98.8% in favour. The move will save 100 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, but most of that will just move offshore. More here. Interestingly, the share price of Z Energy (ZEl, #22) was up a very strong +5.5% today.

A (VERY) SLOW BURN
New Zealand's first electric passenger ferry is about to start sea trials in Wellington. It has been constructed with substantial public funding from EECA, Greater Wellington and Callaghan. It is a carbon-fibre 19 metre, 135 passenger ferry for use inside Wellington harbour, designed to tick the current environmental boxes. Mercury (MCY, #11) is a key supporter. The current two Wellington ferries use about 250,000 litres of diesel annually (500 L/day each) but is not clear that they will be retired from service as a result. Work on the electric ferry began in 2018, and it is not expected to go into regular service until early September. See this.

CUTTING BACK
In Australia, their central bank has cut back its year-on-year growth forecasts. It was expecting 4.75% for 2021 but now expects 4.0%. It did upgrade its 2023 forecast slightly.

STILL STRUGGLING
Auckland's water reservoir levels have finally hit 60% of capacity after having been in the low 40%s earlier in the year. Normally at this time of year they are at 85%. The smaller reservoirs in the Waitakeres are in worse shape than the larger ones in the Hunuas.

SINKING
New Zealand's official reserve assets (E1) fell to their lowest level in 15 years as at the end of July. As a proportion of GDP, they are at their lowest in 17 years, since 2004 (but in a record that only goes back to 2000).

PRESSURE IN NSW REMAINS INTENSE
There were 291 new community cases in NSW today with another 161 not assigned to known clusters, so still going backwards there. Victoria is reporting six new cases. Queensland is reporting 10 new cases. Overall in Australia, nearly 21% of Aussies are fully vaccinated, 42% have now had at least one shot. Aussie corporates are now starting to insist on 'no jab, no job' policies. There was one new case in New Zealand at the border (and a serious one in MIQ), but still none in the community. In New Zealand 15.6% are now fully vaccinated, with 25.6% having had at least one shot.

GOLD MOVES DOWN AGAIN
Compared to where we were this time yesterday, the gold price is down another -US$7/oz at US$1802/oz in early Asian trading. A week ago we were at US$1827/oz so that is a -1.4% retreat.

EQUITIES GENERALLY POSITIVE
The S&P500 ended +0.6 in Thursday trade earlier and on a rise at the end. That means it is up +0.8% so far this week and at a new all-time record high. Tokyo has opened up +0.1% but is wavering in ewarly trade. Hong Kong has opened down -0.7% in very early trade and Shanghai has opened down -0.4%. The ASX200 is up another +0.1% in afternoon trade and heading for a solid +1.3% weekly rise. The NZX50 Capital Index which is also up +0.1% in late trade today and it too is closing in on a weekly gain of +1.3%.

SWAP & BONDS RATES JUMP
We don't have today's closing swap rates yet and if there are significant ongoing changes we will note them here. They are probably unchanged with all the action done & dusted now it seems. But the 90 day bank bill rate is up +5 bps at 0.65% which is a surprise lift. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is up +3 bps at 1.18%. The China Govt ten year bond is unchanged at 2.84%. The New Zealand Govt ten year however is up +2 bps at 1.62% and the same as the earlier RBNZ fix of 1.62% (+3 bps). The US Govt ten year is now at 1.24% and up by +6 bps today.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDS HIGHER
The Kiwi dollar has been just marginally softer so far today and is now at 70.4 USc and basically holding most of this week's rise. (A week ago it was at 70 USc.) Against the Aussie we are unchanged high at 95.4 AUc. Against the euro we are firmish at 59.6 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still at 73.3 and staying up because a week ago we were at 72.7.

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BITCOIN FIRM
The bitcoin price is now at US$40,489 and up +2.7% from this time yesterday. Volatility in the past 24 hours has been extreme at +/- 5.3%. A week ago the price was US$40,237 so the net change is very little.

This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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