A review of the things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; big credit union raises term deposit rates, gold rises, questions over debt levels

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

Firstly, congratulations to Brendan McCullum - we noticed a definite fall off in readers here when McCullum was approaching his triple!

CREDIT UNION RAISES TD RATES
Today, NZCU Baywide, a large Hawkes Bay credit union raised its 9 month term deposit rate to 4.50% pa which is now much better than a bank TD which are generally in the 3.80/3.80% range for that term. They also raised their one year TD to 4.50% and that opened up a smaller advantage over banks.

GOLD RISES
The gold price has risen to US$1,327.50 on the London market today (even higher in New York) and it has been rising consistently in 2014. It is now 8.4% higher in six weeks than it was at the start of the year. In New Zealand dollars the rise is healthy too, but not quite as good as the US dollar terms - it is up 6.1% in our currency over the same short period.

HOW INDEBTED ARE WE?
A London hedge fund manager says we are at risk, Bill English doesn't agree. Then again, others aren't so sanguine.

LAW CHANGE TO EXTEND FOREIGN SUPER TRANSITION
The Government is changing the rules to introduce a ‘15 per cent option’ for those who withdrew a lump sum or made a transfer from their foreign superannuation scheme and did not comply with the rules at the time. The changes extend the availability of the 15 per cent option to those whose funds haven’t actually been transferred to New Zealand before 1 April 2014, but who can show they have lodged an application before that date.

WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates were lower today for 2-10 yr terms, down 2 and 3 bps, while the 90 day bank bill rates were again unchanged at 2.93%.

OUR CURRENCY RISES
The NZD hovered in a fairly narrow range against most currencies today with the hint of softness continuing. We fell a little against both the USD and the AUD but the falls were minor.