A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; more rate cuts, GE Money slips, current account slips further, education market grows, NZ 8 years ahead

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Co-operative Bank reduced most of its fixed home loan rates today. Worth noting is their three year rate of 5.35% which is especially competitive.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were rate cuts today from ASB, SBS, the Co-operative Bank, and ICBC today.

GE MONEY PROFIT DOWN
GE Capital's New Zealand consumer finance business has recorded a 9.9% fall in annual profit. Its 2014 year profit came in at $62.9 million, down $6.9 million from $69.8 million in 2013. The drop came as income fell just under 1% and expenses increased 2.4%.Total assets fell 6.9% to $2.75 billion, and total loans fell 1.8% to $1.76 billion. The business was part of General Electric's A$8.2 billion March sale to Varde Partners, KKR and Deutsche Bank of its Australasian consumer finance business.

WORSE AS EXPECTED
The current account deficit widened to -3.6% of GDP in the year to March 2015, as markets expected. The fall in dairy export prices over the past year drove the increase in the deficit, and will continue to do so over the course of this year. Cheaper oil imports and strong growth in tourist spending helped to soften the blow. But the track seems to be down with some analysts expecting it to peak at -6% of GDP at some time in the cycle.

FEWER MORTGAGES APPROVED
The winter season is starting to set in in the mortgage market. Home loan approvals are softening off noticeably last week.

CAP & BULK FUND
The Government has decided to cap the SuperGold cardholder use of public transport and bulk fund it with the operators. Cardholders won't notice any change. But they have also decided to put the Waiheke service up for competitive tender, given this is one of the few services that has competition and runs without subsidy.

BIG BUSINESS
The number of international students enrolled to study in New Zealand grew 13% in 2014, the highest level in a decade. There were 110,198 international students enrolled. International education is New Zealand’s fifth largest export industry, contributing $2.85 bln to the economy annually and supporting more than 30,000 jobs.

LATE COMERS
Australia is celebrating its FTA signing with China today - eight years after NZ signed its one.

WHOLESALE RATES SOFT
Swap rates fell -1 or -2 bps today. The 90 day bank bill rate was also lower another -1 bp today and is now at 3.28%.

NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
The NZ dollar was range bound yet again today. It is still at 69.7 USc, 90.3 AUc, 61.9 euro cents and the TWI-5 is still at 73.5. Check our real-time charts here.

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