A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; SBS Bank slashes its 3yr rate, Truckometer reduces speed, card spending mellows, used imports surge, swap rates rise

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
SBS Bank today reduced its fixed three year home loan interest rate to 5.89%. That is -30 bps lower than the next lowest rate for that term and they have grabbed the market leading position firmly. They also offer the option of a $3,000 cash incentive, of a combination of the two.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today.

TRUCKOMETER REDUCES SPEED
The ANZ Heavy Traffic Index fell -1.2% in August after rising +2.5% in July. More modest growth rates are of course exactly what the Reserve Bank ordered, to avoid overheating. But a halving in dairy prices was not on the agenda, says ANZ economists.

TAILING OFF
It is pretty clear now that we are off our highs for consumer confidence. Today's card spending data confirmed the point with only a modest increase. But it was constrained spending on fuel that kept it low. Household spending continues to trend upward but the pace of growth has slowed since the start of the year.

WE LIKE USED
Used car imports were strong again in August, with 11,290 vehicles registered in the month, the fourth month in a row the level was above 10,000. We haven't seen that since 2007. Imports of Nissan brand vehicles were especially strong with them coming in in second place just behind perennial leader Toyota. We are buying new cars at the rate of 241,000 a year (new and used imports) and that is up 21% from the same time a year ago.

BIG SHIFTS
In case you missed it, we keep a close look at international commodity prices in our IMF Commodity charts. They are telling some interesting stories for New Zealand. For example Arabica coffee prices are up +48% in a year, Beef is up +38% in a year, Lamb up +13%. On the other hand Dubai crude is down -10%, soft logs are down -11%, cotton is down -25% while coarse wool is down only -3%. Rice is down -18% and wheat is down -19%. Dairy is not alone. The world is awash in food.

IT'S NOT ALL DOWN
Beef prices are now at a six year high and looking to push up above those 2008 levels.

WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates rose today pretty much mirroring the overnight New York benchmark rate moves. One, two, three and four years are up +2 bps, five  and seven years are up +3 bps, and ten years is up +4 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate was unchanged at 3.69%.

OUR CURRENCY
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar had a quiet day after slipping back on a stronger US dollar and a weaker Aussie dollar. We are at 82.5 USc, now at 89.1 AUc and the TWI is just under 79.0.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.