A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; growth expectations lowered, last chance to respond, service sector expanding faster, China mixed, NZD holds

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Today we had lower rates coming through from Credit Union Auckland, NZCU Baywide and NZ Home Loans.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
BNZ, Kiwibank and Heartland all reduced term deposit rates today.

GROWTH EXPECTATIONS LOWERED
The NZ Institute of Economic Research's latest consensus forecasts show another downward revision in growth expectations. Annual average economic growth is now expected to track below 3% until 2019, NZIER says. Forecasters expect growth to drop to 2.5% in the March 2016 year, before recovering slightly to 2.6% in each of the following two years. Weaker household spending and business investment forecasts are behind the downward revision. 

TURNERS SEEKS BIGGER SLICE OF MTF
Turners Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of Turners Ltd formerly known as Dorchester Pacific, is seeking to increase its stake of almost 1% in Motor Trade Finances (MTF) to almost 20%. Turners is offering $1.15 per share for MTF shares, which most recently traded at 94 cents each. Turners CEO Paul Byrnes said Turners writes about 10% of new loans originated through MTF, and the move to increase its shareholding is to better reflect Turners' commitment to the MTF model. Byrnes said, however, it wasn't a takeover offer and Turners "will not, in any circumstances, hold 20% or more of the ordinary shares in MTF as a result of this offer."

MTF says shareholders who receive an offer letter from Turners should read Turners’ disclosure document and terms of the offer carefully and thoroughly, and seek independent financial and/or legal advice if they are uncertain about the offer or are contemplating selling their shares.

YOUR VIEW?
The Reserve Bank is 'consulting' on how much information and how often banks need to publish detailed disclosure. Currently it is every quarter. The RBNZ thinks that the current disclosure is not widely valued by the public, and they get all the internal information they need to regulate. So they have asked for feedback on 36 questions around changing bank disclosure. You have until Wednesday to get your feedback in. Here is what Martien Lubberink thinks. One thing is certain, the RBNZ will take all thoughtful comments seriously.

GLOOMSTERS UNSUPPORTED
On Friday the BNZ/BusinessNZ PMI surprised on the positive side. Today, the same survey for the much larger Services sector did the same. It had BNZ saying "For those who are convinced that the NZ economy is stalling, even losing momentum, look away now. The Performance of Services Index (PSI) strengthened to a seasonally adjusted 58.2 in August, from 56.6 in July. This was nudging its strongest level post GFC and is well above its average reading since 2007, of 53.7."

CHINA MIXED
China data out earlier today for industrial production and new fixed asset formation came in below expectations and this seemed to have commentators convinced China is slowing. The problem is that services data doesn't show that. In fact, China's retail sales beat expectations, something overlooked by most analysts. China may be down but it is far from out. 

WHOLESALE RATES HOLD
Swap rates are lower by just -1 bps today for every term. The 90 day bank bill rate is also lower by -1 bp to 2.83%.

NZ DOLLAR FLAT
The Kiwi dollar moved very little today. The NZD is holding at 63.3 USc, at 89 AUc and 55.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still at 67.5. Check our real-time charts here.

BETTER ADAPTED
While the rest of the world is talking up El Nino, we are going into Spring with our local spoil moisture levels very 'normal' and certainly better than this time last year. Also, the new irrigation water storage lakes in Canterbury are almost full and the main snow melt hasn't yet happened, so irrigators look better prepared this year as well. El Nino is regular and real, but it doesn't affect New Zealand as it does other countries. And we seem to be making better preparations to adapt to it anyway. 'Success' in Canterbury will no doubt spread the drive for irrigation elsewhere.

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