A review of the things you need to know before you go home on Monday; more mortgage rate cuts, IRD and Dulux settle, PSI climbs, retail has minor rise

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

BNZ CUTS MORTGAGE RATE
This morning BNZ has cut its 3 year home loan rate by 4 bps underbidding Westpac who matched BNZ on Friday. ASB cut its 2 year rate on Friday night. TSB raised its 1 year fixed rate by 10 bps.

DULUX SETTLES ITS TAX CASE
Aussie-owned Dulux has settled its tax case with the IRD for what it says is less than the $12.7 million it provided for in its accounts last year. This was a test case involving those clever Optional Convertible Note structures, which created tax deductibility for some notional 'costs'. Other major corporates also have pending cases worth a total of about $300 million in tax and penalties.

SERVICES INDEX CLIMBS
Activity in the services sector continued its march upwards with some levels of activity not seen since 2007, with a seasonally adjusted PSI for January at 58.1

HOUSING CONFIDENCE - NOT
The latest ASB survey shows most people think now is not a good time to buy.

'MAGIC MONEY' FOR SOLAR
Greens move to undermine majority Govt-owned SOE power networks (and NZ Power business case) with a heads-up election 'offer'.

RETAIL SALES RISE
Retail sales volumes lifted by 1.2% on a seasonally-basis in the December quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand.

BOUNCING BACK?
The housing market is bouncing back strongly after the initial shock of the introduction of 'speed limits' on high loan-to-value lending, latest results from the BNZ-REINZ Residential Market Survey indicate.

WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates were lower today for 1 yr swaps, down 3 bps and that helped a slight steepening of the curve, while the 90 day bank bill rates were unchanged at 2.93%.

OUR CURRENCY RISES
The NZD hovered in a narrow range against most currencies today with a hint of softness.