Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank reduced their 3, 4 and five year fixed rates today, and the 4 and 5 year rates will be best-in-the-market. And ANZ got back in the cash-incentive ring with a $2,000 offer for new loans of $250,000 and over. Kiwibank's latest offer is a $2,500 voucher at Freedom Furniture.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today.
CREDIT UNION MERGER
Hamilton-based First Credit Union is to take over NZCU Rotorua, it was announced today. NZCU's 4,800 members will take First Credit Union to over 54,000 members with assets of $270 million.
NATIONAL PROMISES ACC LEVY CUTS
The election offer is to reduce ACC levies by between $700 million and $900 million, starting 1 April 2016 over and above what has already been committed. "This is the equivalent of a tax cut for households and businesses," they say.
FOOD DOWN, NON-FOOD UP
Today's manufacturing data from Statistics NZ was weak for Q2, but almost all of that was because of depressed food production. Non-food manufacturing is powering ahead, but not enough to overcome lower dairy and meat production, so the overall survey was weaker that was expected.
TRANSMISSION GULLY UNDERWAY
The first sod was turned on this Wellington project today. It will be a 27 kilometer four-lane highway, and the first roading Public Private Partnership (PPP) in New Zealand’s history.
JAPAN HAS A TOUGH DAY
Data out of Japan wasn't very encouraging today. The Q2 GDP number came in worse than first estimated and a year-on-year decline of -7.1%. Their current account surplus was smaller than expected, their trade deficit larger than expected. Consumer spending fell more than expected. All in all a down day for Japan. But Q2 was when the sales tax rise hangover happened, so lets hope this is now behind them.
CHINA TRADE SURPRISINGLY STRONG
China's August exports were higher than expected and their imports were lower. That gave them a trade surplus 25% higher than markets were expecting at US$50 bln for the month. A recovering US drove the trade. The result is likely to put upward pressure on the yuan.
ON THE MEND?
Job advertising in Australia is surprisingly strong in August, rising 1.5% m/m to be up 8% over the year to date. This suggests conditions in their labour market are improving slowly.
WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates fell -1 bp today across the whole curve. The 90 day bank bill rate was also down -1 bp to 3.69%.
OUR CURRENCY
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar had a small flutter upwards in the middle of the day today but has settle back to levels we started out at this morning. We are at 83.2 USc, now at 88.8 AUc and the TWI is just under 79.0.
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7 Comments
Today's manufacturing data from Statistics NZ was weak for Q2, but almost all of that was because of depressed food production. Non-food manufacturing is powering ahead, but not enough to overcome lower dairy and meat production, so the overall survey was weaker that was expected.
ANZ commentary, from my inbox, views non-food manufacturing matters in a different light:
Of more relevance for quarterly GDP was the 0.1% rise in ex meat and dairy volumes, which was considerably weaker than signalled by upbeat business sentiment measures. The take-out is one of mixed fortunes, with just five the 12 core industries experiencing rises in volumes, with notable increases in petroleum and coal product manufacturing (+2.4% sa), printing (+3.9% sa), and transport equipment & machinery (+0.6%). By contrast, there were a number of large falls, including chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing (-3% sa), beverage and tobacco prices. Falls for metal products and wood products suggest that strengthening in construction sector activity is likely to come in fits and starts.
Our seasonally adjusted estimates suggest there was a 2.6% fall in core manufacturing inventories in Q2, which will further weigh on Q2 GDP.
From:
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/manufacturin…
The sales volume for total manufacturing, excluding meat and dairy, was up 0.1 percent in the June 2014 quarter. Sales fell for seven of the 12 manufacturing industries in this group.
It appears confusing but are dairy commodities building inventory?
TRANSMISSION GULLY UNDERWAY
The first sod was turned on this Wellington project today. It will be a 27 kilometer four-lane highway, and the first roading Public Private Partnership (PPP) in New Zealand’s history.
Hard to get excited with notable government off balance sheet payment liabilities in the $billions due to Australians:
When the project is finished and open for use, NZTA will make annual cash payments of about $125 million over the life of 25-year contract, the roading agency said in a statement. Read more
It's a PPP, but not as we know it!
All risk on the tax-payer, all profit for the aussies.
With all the regular PPP toll roads in Oz having gone bankrupt when the projected patronage massively undershot, i guess the only way you can entice people into PPPs these days is to guarantee their profits at the tax-payers expense.
What i don't understand though, is what's in it for the tax-payer? NZTA already contracts out the building of its roads to let private enterprise control the costs. So what extra benefit do we get by contracting out the funding? Given the government has much lower borrowing costs, it seems a colossal waste of money?
Reserve Bankp stuck in the 80s according to Shamabel and should not be raising rates
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=113…
NZ is not in a high growth, high inflation period
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