A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; dairy prices jump, current account slips, Cullen Fund creams it, Hisco for Smith?, swap rates rise and steepen

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
The Cooperative Bank, NBS and MAS all trimmed some fixed rates today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
The Cooperative Bank also reduced term deposit rates and some savings account rates. MAS did the same.

STORMING BACK
Starting the day, dairy prices rose very strongly for the third consecutive GDT auction, this time rising by +16.5%, with Wholemilk Powder up +20.6%. (These are changes from the prior auction two weeks ago and not y-on-y changes.) Because the currency has retrenched already the changes in NZ dollars were very similar.

MARGINALLY WORSE
NZ's current account deficit rose by NZ$463 mln in June quarter; annual deficit rises to -3.5% of GDP from revised -3.4% in March. These results were far better than economists were expecting, which was a -3.7% of GDP deficit. A strong rise in New Zealanders' income from overseas assets - in fact this was the strongest quarter on record - and the tourism and education sectors were reasons a) the deficit was lower than expected and b) the previous deficit was revised down. Stats NZ also did its own annual adjustment, which also helped. Still, the bottom line is, the deficit widened.

NZ SUPER FUND ADDS $3.1 BLN
The NZ Super Fund returned 14.64%, after costs and before tax, for the year to June 30. (It paid $720 mln in tax.) The total fund stood at $29.54 billion at the end of June, up $3.1 billion over 12 months. Chairman Gavin Walker reiterated that the Fund is expected to earn 8% to 9% a year over the long-term.

ONE MORE YEAR FOR ANZ'S SMITH
ANZ Banking Group CEO Mike Smith has indicated he's likely to step down within a year. Smith, a former HSBC executive, joined ANZ in 2007 embarking on a major Asian growth push. ANZ NZ boss David Hisco has been touted as a potential successor to Smith.

JOB MARKET DEMAND HOLDING
MBIE's monitoring of the job vacancy situation shows that in August online job vacancies were steady. Online advertisements for skilled vacancies decreased by -0.1%, but increased by +0.3% for all vacancies. Skilled vacancies increased in five out of eight industry groups. The largest increase was in the hospitality and tourism industry (up +2.3%), while the biggest decrease was in IT (down -3.2%). Skilled vacancies increased by 2.1% in the trades and technicians occupation group. Vacancies fell for managers and professionals (both down -0.6%).

PUSHING AHEAD WITHOUT FUNDING
Even though the Government has not yet decided when to fund the Auckland City Rail Link, the Auckland Council is pushing ahead with changes and early construction anyway.

PUSHING AHEAD WITH THE UNITARY PLAN
To get the largest urban plan approved in the 24 year history of the RMA, the Government is changing the law to speed up the Auckland process. The goal is to have all the hearings work and decisions completed by July 2016.

SCHOOL IS IN, AND VALUABLE
Academic Colleges Group, the Auckland-based private educator, has been sold to an Aussie private equity firm, PEP. They apparently paid an eye-popping $530 mln. The new owners say they will greatly expand the business, with links and related feeder colleges in South East Asia. PEP will likely then float the business publicly.

WHOLESALE RATES STEEPEN
Following the overnight rise in New York, and pushed along by the implications of the sharp jump in dairy prices, local swap rates rose and steepened from +2 to +6 bps today. The 90 day bank bill rate popped back down by -2 bps to 2.83%.

NZ DOLLAR FIRMER
The Kiwi dollar moved up and down today within a narrow range and is currently holding against a stronger greenback at 63.5 USc, but up against the Aussie at 89 AUc and up at 56.2 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still at 67.8. Check our real-time charts here.

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