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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; Westpac cuts savings rates, commodity prices step back, used imports high but stop growing, swap rates jump

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; Westpac cuts savings rates, commodity prices step back, used imports high but stop growing, swap rates jump

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There are no changes to report today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Westpac today cut a range of savings and at-call account rates by -20 bps, leaving the new rate for many of these products at about 2%.

NOV = SEPT
After two back-to-back gains, the ANZ Commodity Price Index faltered in November, with prices down -5.6%. Falls were evident for dairy, beef, wool and aluminium. While the NZD fell -1.6% against the USD, it was little changed on most other crosses and strengthened against the EUR. As such, NZD prices fell -4.5%.

AT THE SUMMIT?
There was an echo in the new vehicle sales data earlier in the week with the release of the used imports data today. These came in at 11,620 for the month of November, just marginally softer than expected, but still high. This leaves the impression that car sales are now topping out and we are at a point of 'as-good-as-it-gets'.

CONSUMER STRENGTH
Aussie retail sales rose more than expected in October according to official data out today. They were up +4.6% year-on-year overall, with especially strong rises for household goods (+6.8%), apparel (+5.4% and department stores (+5.9%). Laggards were food retailing (supermarkets) and restaurants/cafes.

CONSUMERS FIGHT BACK
As many as 90% of Australian households are looking to renewable energy alternatives such as solar panels and also battery storage or smart meters as they seek to counter the rise in their power prices, according to a survey by Energy Consumers Australia. Those rises have been steep over the ditch, in contrast to New Zealand where we have seen very little increase. But despite this, consumers here are finding the sharp fall in global solar equipment costs and capacity are making it more viable here too. The Government should have sold out of the SOE electricity companies completely; their profitable future is under attack.

ANOTHER $100 MIL
Spark Finance today announced that it has issued NZ$100 mln of fixed rate bonds. The margin for the bonds has been set at 1.15% pa and the interest rate has been set at 4.51% pa.

WHOLESALE RATES JUMP
Local wholesale swap rates rose strongly today reflecting the sharp moves higher we saw on Wall Street last night. There is also a strong steepening bias. 2 year swaps rose +2 bps while 10 yr swaps rose +8 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 2.88%.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDS
The Kiwi is now at 66.8 USc, at 91.1 AUc, and 61.2 euro cents, with the lower rate against the euro bedding in following the unexpected ECB non-action last night. The TWI-5 is now back at 71.8. Check our real-time charts here.

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

And don't forget to make history and vote in the Flag Referendum.

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Source: CoinDesk

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13 Comments

Cripes, the banks enjoy a collateralised 2.74% repo return on their cash while unsecured bank creditors face the indignity of ~2.0% on call from Westpac whilst doing double duty underwriting bank capital in the event of an OBR insolvency issue.

How much more can the mortgage debtors and banks demand from the citizen savers?

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Not savers, saved and they are free to move their money anytime they want.

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un-Employment is climbing but the economy is picking up? What are these ppl smoking?

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I think it involves $100 dollar notes rolled up and applied to the nose.

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and lit? seems a waste....

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Talking of losers.

The value of the U.S. fixed-income market slid by $162.5 billion on Thursday while the euro area’s shrank by 98.3 billion euro ($107.4 billion) as a smaller-than-expected stimulus boost by the European Central Bank and hawkish comments from Janet Yellen pushed up yields around the world. A global index of bonds compiled Bank of America Merrill Lynch slumped the most since June 2013. Read more

Another stunning set of central bank manoeuvres - time to rid ourselves of these previously tenured university types and run our own money. How could the citizens be less useful - losing more would seem impossible?

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Considering the trillions in debt and risk the financial parasites have created I think not thanks.

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I think you will find they are both one and the same. Take it from one who has at least experienced the system first hand.

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Uh, no....there is a huge difference between the parasites and RBs.

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Feel free to regale us with your experiences.

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I am on the same planet as you, I can see what the financial types have done, and I have 1 vote, just like you.

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