A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; rush of savings & TD cuts, Ruataniwha decision appealed, job ads inch higher, confidence at regular levels, swaps stable, NZD higher again

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 - yet.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
We got rate cut advices today from NZCU South, ICBC, the Police Credit Union, UDC, Heartland Bank and ASB Securities. Graeme Wheeler's rate cut has flowed through to savers in full, but some of the benefits for borrowers have been picked off by the banks.

COURT LOSS NOT ACCEPTED
Lobby group Forest & Bird has today lodged an appeal against the High Court judgment approving the Department of Conservation’s decision to downgrade and swap public land in the Ruahine Forest Park to enable the Ruataniwha irrigation scheme. The land that DOC wants to give away is needed for the controversial Ruataniwha Dam project which, if it proceeds, would provide for irrigation of around 25,000 hectares of farm land in central Hawke’s Bay.

THE TPPA TREATY
Today we publish the first in what will be a long series, reviewing the TPPA treaty that will soon go before a Parliamentary Select Committee, and then to an open Parliamentary debate. This Treaty needs confirmation by our Parliament. We have commissioned Dr Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy, an economist at Auckland University to assess each of the main Chapters (there are 30, but he won't review every last one, just the main ones). These will be in-depth reviews, and the first one is here. We have given him no 'instructions' or 'guidance'. We have no idea about what is coming. This has been a long-negotiated Treaty, one that breaks new ground, and one subsequent FTA's with places like Europe will undoubtedly model themselves on. So far, debate has been between people who have entrenched views and who show they haven't even bothered to read it. We hope Dr McGrevy's reviews will be the basis of some intelligent debate.

FEELING GOOD
Equity markets are ending the week slightly higher on the day following Wall Street's +0.7% gain last night - all except Tokyo which is down -1.2%. Shanghai is up +1.3% today.

A 6 YR RECORD WE DON'T WANT
Jobs ads bounced back a little in February after a sharp January fall. The lift is welcome, but it’s "demure" says survey taker ANZ, considering last month’s fall. Job ads lifted +0.9% in February after dropping -2.9% the previous month. Total job advertising is up just +0.4% versus a year ago, with annual growth on the verge of going negative for the first time in six years.

WE ARE STILL CONFIDENT
According to the March ANZ-Roy Morgan survey, consumer confidence continues to bounce along at near-average levels. That’s still a good sign for the spending side of the economy says ANZ. Strong employment and house prices are feel-good factors. House price expectations – at +4.4% – remain firm but not eye-watering. 

EARLY SIGNAL
This week's bankruptcy data fell back somewhat, showing the high level we noted yesterday to be a bit of an outlier. Still, the latest data still suggests the level has risen and could still be an early sign of rising credit stress.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Standard & Poor's are reporting that global commitments for capital spending are shrinking, and shrinking quite fast. On current estimates, global capex spending fell -10% in 2015, and is likely to shrink by a further -4% this year and -2% next. If these projections are realised, the real-term value of global corporate capex in 2017 will have slipped back to where it was in 2006.

WHOLESALE RATES STABILISE
Despite the drop in benchmark yields earlier today on Wall Street, domestic swap rates have barely moved. What movement there has been has seen a minor flattening of our rate curves. NZ swap rates are here and they are at or near their all-time lows. The 90-day bank bill rate is unchanged at 2.35%.

NZ DOLLAR RISES AND RISES
Markets bid the NZ dollar further up today making it three days in a row of significant strengthening. It is now at 68.6 USc and more than another +1c higher than yesterday, at 89.4 AUc and 60.5 euro cents. The TWI-5 is up to 71.6. Check our real-time charts here.

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