What happened Wednesday

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; strong jobs demand, strong LGFA bond demand, strong car sales, dodgy fx trading, swap rates up

8th Apr 15, 4:00pm by David Chaston

For Wednesday, April 8, 2015. <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.

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

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No reported changes for term deposits either.

WHERE THE JOBS ARE
The latest MBIE Short-term Employment Forecasts report for the next three years shows there will be strong employment demand across the country from strong economic growth, especially in the construction, business services and hospitality sectors.

GOOD FOR A FEW
The latest results for today's $190 mln LGFA bond tender saw strong demand with a 2.9x coverage ratio overall and similar to the previous tender. But a feature of this tender is that just a handful of bidders won all the offers for the 2017s, 2020s and 2023s. There was a broader spread of winners for the 2027s.

STRONG CAR SALES
Another strong month for used car sales rounded out a strong March quarter for car dealers, with total car sales sitting 14% above their level from a year earlier. Used import sales are now running at 135,000 per year, their highest rate in more than nine years. For new cars, the annual rate is up to almost 92,000 their highest rate in more than 30 years.

RUSSELL MCVEAGH JOINS NZBA

Law firm Russell McVeagh has become the third affiliate member of the New Zealand Bankers' Association. NZBA has 15 member banks and three affiliate members having recently introduced affiliate membership to "formalise relationships" with "complementary organisations." The other affiliate members thus far are law firm Buddle Findlay and MasterCard NZ.

FUNNY BUSINESS
The Australian equivalent of our FMA - ASIC - has said today it is investigating why markets seemed to know the RBA decision in the few minutes before it was released yesterday. This is now the third consecutive time security in the decision has been breached, and so far no-one has been charged.

WHOLESALE RATES RISE
Wholesale swap rates rose +3 bps across the whole curve. This was expected and as a consequence of yesterday's RBA non-decision. The 90 day bank bill rate was also higher, up +1 bp to 3.64%.

NZ DOLLAR LOWER
The NZ dollar has realigned slightly lower after the RBA non-decision. As of late afternoon it's at 75.2 USc, 98.3 AUc, and the TWI is at 80. Check our real-time charts here.

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

Daily exchange rates

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Source: RBNZ

Source: CoinDesk

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6 Comments

by Mike B | 8th Apr 15, 4:11pm 1428466302

Rising car sales and rising immigration

by David Chaston | 8th Apr 15, 5:02pm 1428469336

How does that work? Nine years ago used import sales were higher than the year to March 2015. Thirty years ago new car sales were higher than the twelve months March 2015. Yet net permanent immigration is now at record all-time high levels. Did immigrants not buy cars 30 years ago? Perhaps the data is suggesting the today's immigrants are buying fewer cars? Personally I doubt immigration is a dominating factor. I suspect it is more due to the state of the economy generally.

by skudiv | 8th Apr 15, 5:16pm 1428470197

I suspect it has a lot to do with the price of new cars, thanks to the high NZD and aggresive pricing by the manufacturers. I never thought I'd buy new, but when they are having a sale there is very little difference between new and a low km's used 4x4 double cab ute. I don't know about other types because I didn't look. Of course having a few good years made me think I could afford one in the first place.

by Mike B | 8th Apr 15, 8:14pm 1428480865

Fair point David

I seem to recall, about 30 years ago, when we first started importing 2nd hand Japanise cars, that there was a boom as people got rid of their old dungers. maybe that was the cause.

by iconoclast | 8th Apr 15, 4:52pm 1428468737

The event of the week - "Google Tax" - how to avoid tax

This week, the Australian parliament begins a Senate Enquiry into multi-nationals rorting the tax system to the tune of $80 billion. Google and Apple and BHP and RIO and the ATO are all fronting the public examination - it's the equivalent of a NZ Govt Select Committee enquiry

Fairfax has pulled an old 1991, 2 minute video, out of the cupboard of the last tax avoidance enquiry that examined Kerry Packer, Australia's richest person at the time who famously paid no tax

It's brilliant - worth watching - remember, he paid no taxes

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/corporate-tax-inq…

by steven | 9th Apr 15, 7:18am 1428520703

Meanwhile US shale might be having a bad hair day, http://peakoil.com/production/the-bakken-bust-continues

"We can say the Bakken definitely started declining three months ago, back in January."

hmmm.