Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today. But the Co-operative Bank has said it is dialing back its cash incentive for new loans of $250,000 and more. Their new incentive will be $2,500, down from $3,000, effective tomorrow.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today.
ANOTHER HIGH RANKING
The 2014 international index on tax competitiveness was out today and New Zealand is the second most competitive country tax-wise in the OECD. We will have detail in a separate story later today. We 'beat' Switzerland, Sweden and Australia, but we are miles behind the #1 spot which is Estonia.
GOVT BOND TENDERS
The Debt Management Office of the Treasury has signaled that it will be holding six more bond tenders between now and the end of the calendar year. Three will be inflation-indexed bonds totaling $300 million, and three will be nominal totaling $900 million. That's $1.2 bln in 90 days.
INVESTING IN A TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE
British consultants Mercer have convinced a range of sovereign funds to back a study of the impact of climate change on how they invest. These funds have $1.5 tln of assets under management. One of them is the NZ Cullen Fund. Chief executive Adrian Orr said: "As a long-term, inter-generational investor, we need to understand the investment risks and opportunities associated with climate change. This project will help us calibrate our investment strategies accordingly."
DAIRY IN THE DUMPS, SHEEP & BEEF LOOKING GOOD
A survey out today recorded how worried dairy farmers are about their immediate prospects. They won't have long to wait as Fonterra will confirm the revised new season payout tomorrow morning. But in contrast sheep, beef and deer farmers are seeing fast rising returns for their products.
WHOLESALE RATES
Swap rates have fallen again today and the trend down is mounting. Today we have seen rates fall another -2 to -4 bps in a flattening trend. The 90 day bank bill rate rose +3 bps, now to 3.71%.
OUR CURRENCY
Check our real-time charts here. The Kiwi dollar has been becalmed today. The NZD has lost all its post-election bounce and is now back at 81.2 USc. We are unchanged against the Aussie to 91.3 AUc. The TWI is at 78.5. We saw a market comment/tweet today that said "$NZD is the most over-valued currency vs. $USD on a PPP-implied basis, 28.97% above "fair" exchange rate (0.5800)"
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
2 Comments
Swap rates have fallen again today and the trend down is mounting
Not those associated with Tom/Next NZD/USD fx swaps - the implied O/N interest rate on the NZD leg blew out as high as 5.2%. Hence banks were keen to dump NZD on the RBNZ at the OMO window today. View here Year end book squaring may have been factor.
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