A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; NZD in sudden jump, retail flat, irrigation investment starts, Fonterra, mortgage approvals flat

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

MORTGAGE APPROVALS FLAT
The data last week shows that volumes of approvals are falling although the value is reasonably steady.

RETAIL SECTOR FLAT
Total retail spending using electronic cards was unchanged in March, Statistics NZ said today. This is a key and current measure of retail activity.

RENEWED COMMITMENT TO IRRIGATION
The Government is now saying its Crown Irrigation Ltd seed funder could now support projects that supply up to 420,000 hectares of new irrigated land, over and above what we currently have. That's an area equal to about half the size of the province of Taranaki. Drought mitigation is a goal. Their first $6.5 million has been disbursed today to Canterbury's Central Plains Water project.

MINERS MAKE THEIR CASE
The local mining lobby group have detailed our dependence of mining. “Our cars and homes, our cell phones and our food, even the green energy we increasingly want to produce all depend to some or a great extent on mining,” they said today when releasing a review.

EXTRA LARGE TOPPINGS
China loves pizza. Pizzas needs mozzarella. Fonterra is raising its manufacturing output of pizza topping cheese to 50,000 tonnes per year, although only enough for about 350 million pizzas. Next year, pizza demand in China will grow by 20%. Milk powders may be today's favourite, but cheese is gaining fast it seems.

DUTCH TAKEOVER?
There has always been a strong and noticeable Dutch thread in the New Zealand dairy industry and it got a little stronger today by the appointment of Henk Bles by Fonterra to the newly-created role of Managing Director International Farming Ventures.

NZ TAX POLICIES BENCHMARKED
Our tax policies are seen as relatively straight forward, consistent and predictable compared to other countries in the region, according to Deloitte’s 2014 Asia Pacific Tax Complexity Survey Report.

WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates moved even more flatter today. The one year rates rose 1 bps, rates for 2 to 5 years fell one and two bps. The 90 day bank bill rates continued its climb and hit 3.20%, the first time it has been this high since February 2011. When it reaches 3.32% it will be at a five year high, so not far to go to that milestone.

OUR CURRENCY
The NZ dollar has just suddenly pushed on up through 87 USc, its highest level since 2011. At time of publication, we are not sure what pushed it up yet. We are also at 93.0 AUc, and the TWI is at 80.5.