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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; school house sales, compulsory KiwiSaver, consistent protections, the silence of the banks

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; school house sales, compulsory KiwiSaver, consistent protections, the silence of the banks
For Tuesday, June 17, 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.

NO RATE MOVES TODAY
Of the major banks, Kiwibank and Westpac have yet to announce their floating rate changes following last week's OCR rise. And of the smaller institutions, only one - the Co-op Bank - has made any move. It is unlikely the RBNZ is concerned yet that their policy signal is not flowing through as they want, but at some point they might start scratching their heads. We have had three hikes in 2014; the first one flowed through quickly, the second one was noticeably slower, and this latest one seems even slower again.

SCHOOL HOUSE SALES
The Government has announced that schools can sell any of their 1,900 houses (values at $300 mln) and they will get all the funds resulting to put back into their school. This is a policy shift because previously they only got back 50% of those proceeds.

EVERYONE WILL BE IN
The Labour Party today proposed a universal (= compulsory) KiwiSaver scheme with exemptions for very low paid, beneficiaries and self employed. It sees contributions rising to 9%, half from employees, half from employers.

AIR NZ OWNS 25.99% OF VIRGIN AUSTRALIA
The kiwi airline has raised its stake to the maximum level authorised by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board.

PROTECTIONS UPDATED
Key changes under the Consumer Law Reform Bill swing into action today. Consumers now have the same rights when purchasing goods and services regardless of whether they buy online, in a store, by auction, over the phone, at home or anywhere else. The changes affect the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Guarantees Act.

BEEFED UP BIOSECURITY TESTING
A new $65m high-security biocontainment laboratory announced will be built in Upper Hutt. The laboratory will integrate two separate laboratories if NZ has a serious animal disease outbreak and maximum testing capacity is required to help manage the outbreak. Diseases that could be tested at the facility include Foot and Mouth disease, Anthrax, Brucella, and Avian Flu.

MIGHTY RIVER POWER CAPITAL BONDS
MRP today placed $280 million of their unsecured subordinated Capital Bonds via a book-build and are offering the remaining $20 million direct to investors (without needing a broker). They will pay the 5 year swap rate plus 2.25% which is 6.8%. They are next reset at July 11, 2019. They mature on July 11, 2044.

ALL OUT
Foreign direct investment into China fell 6.7% in May and that result was a big surprise. Observers were expecting a 3.2% rise. At the same time China's outbound investment overseas rose 6.9%. Money voting?

WHOLESALE RATES
Wholesale swap rates were basically unchanged today with a few terms either up or down 1 bp. The 90 day bank bill rate held at 3.57%.

OUR CURRENCY
The NZ dollar has been very stable today ahead of tomorrows current account Q1 result and the next GDT auction. The NZD is at 86.6 USc, the Aussie is now at 92.5 AUc, up on RBA comment. The TWI is now at 80.8.

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3 Comments

Raising the OCR is a huge mistake, says leading economist. 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10167993/OCR-rise-a-huge-mistake

Finally some common sense from a commentator that has insight to middle NZ outside of Auckland.  

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"Raising rates is a huge mistake at a time inflation is incredibly low and you're only doing it because of the housing market in Auckland," he said. "It scares the hell out of me because the collateral damage rises with each increase. You risk tipping them [the regions] into recession." Says SHAMUBEEL EAQUB Thousands of dollars from post- tax household incomes is now about to disappear.  Retailers, services etc spending will be cut back.  Recessionary times outside of Auckland. 
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A number of National electorate seats will be lost this election due to Non-performers and Regional  economic slump.   The RBNZ should cement this trend quite well. 

Of course the party vote may see them reappear.  The wonder of MMP.    

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