A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; BNZ gives a little, some TD cuts, GDP surprises on high side, NZGB yields dive, swap rates dip sharply, NZD rises

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
BNZ finally came through with their floating rate cut, matching ANZ and Westpac with only a -10 bps cut (and keeping the remaining 15 bps for themselves). At the same time they cut most of their fixed rates for terms of two years and longer. However those reductions basically only matched the best of their main rivals and they are not holding any 'market leading rates' at this time.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Finance Direct cut its TD rates quite sharply. NZCU South also trimmed most of theirs as well

BUSINESS BOOMING
GDP grew +0.9% in the December quarter and +2.5% for the full year. That beat forecasts of +0.7% and +2.4% respectively. Construction, retail and tourism drove the result but farming was a drag. However real disposable income per capita was lower, down -0.4% in the full 2015 after the +1.9% population rise. The currency rose on the news. Some observers say the good growth will continue through 2016. Infometrics says the strong rise in household spending is being satisfied by local production, rather than imports. Hard not to like that aspect.

BIG DEMAND, LOW YIELD
There were quite a few disappointed bidders at today's small $100 mln 2020 Government bond tender. There was heavy demand with the issue oversubscribed 7.3 times. Only 7 investors won a share. The average weighted accepted yield was 2.26%, down sharply from 2.56% at the previous tender on February 18. That's a quick, substantial fall.

ANOTHER MARKET SURPRISE
The Aussie's got excited today because their unemployment rate was reported at 5.8% when markets were expecting 6.0%. But reading the actual numbers rather than the seasonally adjusted data, the actual unemployment rate in February was 6.2%, down from 6.5% in January and 6.7% in February 2015. The actual number of new jobs created in year to February was 240,000, a +2% rise. 133,000 of them were full time.

EARLY STRESS SIGNAL?
We are keeping an eye on bankruptcy levels. Last week we noticed a spike and were wondering whether it was a one-off. The next data update comes tomorrow.

ENFORCEABLE UNDERTAKING
Jetstar has agreed to drop the use of pre-selected 'opt-out' services when selling airline tickets online, in a deal with regulators.

WHOLESALE RATES FALL
Swap rates fell sharply across the board today, down -4 and -5 bps. NZ swap rates are here and they are at or near their all-time lows. The 90-day bank bill rate is down again today by -1 bp to 2.35%.

NZ DOLLAR RISES
Markets bid the NZ dollar up sharply today following the GDP result, although the realignment from this morning's US Fed statement started things off. It is now at 67.5 USc, at 88.9 AUc and 60.2 euro cents. The TWI-5 is down to 69.9. Check our real-time charts here.

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