Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There have been no home loan rate changes again today.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
It's all quiet on the term deposit front as well.
MONEY OR JOBS
It was announced that the adult minimum wage will increase by 50c from $14.25 to $14.75 an hour from 1 April, a +3.5% rise. The starting-out and training hourly minimum wages will increase by 40c to $11.80 an hour, being 80% of the adult minimum wage. Given that inflation is running at +0.8% pa this is an unusual increase. The activists who run the 'Living Wage' data set recently raised their standard by a lesser amount, from $18.80 to $19.25 an hour a 45c increase. The Government maintains that above $14.75 "would constrain employment growth by up to 5,000 jobs per year."
SKIMMING ALERT
Two Kiwibank ATM machines have been modified by criminals who have attached skimming devices that capture information from customers’ bank cards. The ATMs involved are located in Courtenay Place in Wellington and Marewa in Napier. Both machines have now been declared free from any devices and are back operating safely.
TACKLING EXCESS FOREIGN HOUSING DEMAND
The Australian federal government today announced plans to charge fees to foreign nationals buying residential property and fine those who break foreign investment laws, in an attempt to improve housing affordability amid some of the world's highest property prices. The scheme could raise about AU$200 million a year by charging foreign home-buyers AU$5,000 for properties valued under AU$1 million and an additional AU$10,000 for every additional AU$1 million.
DROUGHT RESPONSE
The widening drought in is behind a reminder by Federated Farmers to prepare feed budgets for livestock as the impact bites harder.
WHOLESALE RATES FALL
Following the lead from benchmark rates in New York earlier today, our swap rates are down -1 to -2 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is also lower -1 bp to 3.62%.
NZ DOLLAR RISE
Check our real-time charts here. The fx markets have taken a quite different view to the bond markets over the Yellen congressional testimony earlier. The kiwi dollar has risen as the day progressed to 75.3 USc, fallen to 95.6 AUc , and the TWI is holding at 78.2.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
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