A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; ICBC tweaks TD rates, NZIER queries commissions, retail spending rises, FMA beats Vivier, swaps up again, NZD stable

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No more changes to mortgage rates today, but check back later; Friday night is a popular time to announce them.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
ICBC changed a whole range of term deposit rates today, some up, some down.

CLIENTS [NOT] FIRST
An NZIER report has been released exposing the level of commissions being paid in the life insurance industry and it is an eye-opener. Much of the premiums you pay for cover are really just being used to pay the broker you used to buy the cover. In fact, nearly a quarter of what you pay compensates the brokers. NZIER suggested that these levels are excessive. This will not come as welcome news for the industry (or even Sovereign who commissioned the report) who are trying to hold back a worldwide regulatory tide that has turned against using commissions because they are distorting and gaming what is best for clients.

FEW UP SIGNALS
Today's USDA dairy price review reveals little change from two weeks ago. We have another GlobalDairyTrade auction due next Wednesday and although the futures market does not suggest much upward price change can be expected we need to remember the futures market price indications have been getting to be a less reliable predictor of auction price movements.

HIGHER, BUT NOT ALL IT SEEMS
Core retail spending volumes rose a moderate +1% in the March quarter, despite a cheaper fuel bill leaving more cash behind in household wallets. Twelve of the 15 retail industries had higher sales in the latest quarter. However, there was a large fall in fuel retailing, down almost -5% which was price driven. In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was $20.2 bln in the March 2016 quarter, up +4.7% from the March 2015 quarter. Eleven of the 15 industries surveyed had higher sales volumes with the largest increases in: electrical and electronic goods retailing – up almost 4%, and on-line shopping with domestic businesses up +10%. However Infometrics noted that even though the core increases are double the decade average, "when we factor in the increasing size of the consumer base (due to high net migration and tourist arrivals) it appears that individual households are still very restrained in their spending".

FMA WINS IMPORTANT CASE
Today the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court judgment that allowed the Luigi Wewege associated Vivier and Company to remain on NZ's financial service providers register. The FMA can now de-register dodgy institutions that don't actually do any business locally.

WIDE BOYS RESCUE GOLD
The new supply of gold into the market is facing headwinds because demand from jewellery, bullion investors, and industrial use is turning soft. Even third world central bank buying is softening. The only thing holding up demand in the first quarter of 2016 was a sudden spike by ETF funds, a demand source that is famously volatile. The data is from the World Gold Council report out overnight.

SWAP RATE RISES SLOW
For a third day in a row swap rates have risen, but today the rises were the smallest of the three. They are up +1 and +2 bps across the curve today. NZ swap rates are here. The 90-day bank bill rate is unchanged at 2.35%.

NZ DOLLAR UNCHANGED
We are back in an in-range holding pattern with very little net movement today. The Kiwi dollar is now at 68 USc, up to 93.2 AUc, and 59.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 is now at 71.6. Check our real-time charts here.

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