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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; Wheeler shows who's boss, ANZ first to hike, Chch rents jump, overseas students returning, FATCA signed, wholesale rates and fx jump

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; Wheeler shows who's boss, ANZ first to hike, Chch rents jump, overseas students returning, FATCA signed, wholesale rates and fx jump
For Thursday, June 12, 2014. <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">Image sourced from Shutterstock.com</a>

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

WHEELER HIKES
The RBNZ came up with what markets think is a hawkish review, but really only have themselves to blame. Wheeler did what he has always said he would do and is committed to continuing the program. But markets thought he would signal a softer future. They were wrong. Rates have jumped sharply today, getting back more in line with Wheeler's view.

ANZ FIRST TO MOVE UP
ANZ almost immediately announced floating rate rises of 0.25%. They also raised the rate on the Serious Saver account, also by 0.25%. But no changes at all to term deposit rates. In fact the $107 billion in term deposits have been left dangling by the whole banking system over most of 2014. Not much chance of any rises either.

AUSSIE LABOUR MARKET EBBS
Employment shrank in May in Australia, but with the familiar theme of an offsetting decline in participation. The unemployment rate was steady.

CHRISTCHURCH RENTS JUMP
While national rent levels were stable, slightly higher in Auckland, and slightly lower in Wellington, they took a significant jump up in Christchurch in May.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT NUMBERS GROWING AGAIN
Following the Canterbury quake, international student numbers fell away. But they are rising again according to a report released today.

NZ COVERED BOND PORTFOLIO 'STABLE'
Moody's have reviewed the set of covered bonds issued by ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac and Kiwibank. They see no dramas at all. There are now $13.2 billion issued, 70% in euro, 12% in Swiss francs, 12% in NZ dollars and the rest in Aussie dollars.

FATCA AGREEMENT SIGNED
New Zealand has signed "an intergovernmental agreement which will minimise compliance costs to financial institutions in New Zealand while assist in the prevention of tax evasion". Essentially, that means we now comply with the US anti tax avoidance law. See more on FATCA here, and you can read the Agreement here.

REINZ DELAYS ITS MAY DATA
The REINZ was expected to release its May transaction data today, but have delayed it now till Friday.

WHOLESALE RATES
Wholesale swap rates were up sharply today as markets absorbed the RBNZ MPS settings. Swap rates were higher by +6 to +9 bps across the board. The 90 day bank bill rate jumped up too by +6 bps, now at 3.49%. Markets have gotten the message that there will be more rises throughout 2014.

OUR CURRENCY
The NZ dollar jumped on the OCR hike and has kept going up since. Late this afternoon, the USD is 1c higher at 86.4 USc, the Aussie is now at 92.2 AUc also 1c higher. The TWI is back over 80 at 80.5.

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1 Comments

NZ dollar- so much for markets pricing in well signaled increases.

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