Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes today.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
BNZ raised their nine month rate to 3.45%, up by +20 bps. NZCU South cut their one and three month TD rates.
SLOW DRIFT LOWER
Today's Westpac consumer confidence numbers include a little surprise. Consumer confidence has fallen for a second quarter. Confidence is now well below the peak reached in 2014, and is below its long-run average. Households, particularly those on middle incomes, have become increasingly worried about where the economy is heading over the next few years. Normally this angst shows up when the actual economy is slowing, but that is not the case this time. This Westpac data is very similar to the ANZ-Roy Morgan series, so no great surprises here.
MORE SALES, LOWER PRICES
Farm sales are still running fast although there is not much price impact - except for dairy farms. May sales for all farms totaled 197 which is +22% higher than the same month a year ago. Prices however were down -6.6% on a per hectare basis. More sales, lower prices/ha perhaps shows this market making the value adjustment.
LIFESTYLE SALES STRONG
Meanwhile, across on the hobby-farm side it is a similar story. Lifestyle block sales are up +21% in volume year-on-year, and +2.8% in price nationally. Tighter supply in the Auckland region is restraining sales volumes and holding up prices, but they are rising "substantially" in the Waikato as access to Auckland improves with the opening up of the SH1 expressway.
"NO IMPACT"
NZ listed insurer CBL Corporation today confirmed that Brexit is not expected to affect its European business whether Britain votes to exit the European Union or not. Their European insurer is domiciled in Ireland, which is not affected by Britain's decision and they have advised employees at their base in Tunbridge Wells UK, who write business in France, that if Britain decides to leave the EU then they will remain operating in England, and shift its legal domicile, - "probably to Ireland". "Either way it will be business as usual" the company said in a statement.
FITCH KEEPS KIWIBANK ON RATING WATCH NEGATIVE
Credit rating agency Fitch has maintained Kiwibank's credit ratings on rating watch negative as part of an annual review. Fitch has an AA long-term foreign currency issuer default rating on Kiwibank, and an AA+ long-term local currency rating. Both are on rating watch negative. This reflects the proposed removal of a guarantee provided by NZ Post over Kiwibank's liabilities as part of an ownership restructure. NZ Post is expected to confirm the sale of a total of 45% Kiwibank to the NZ Super Fund and ACC by the end of June. Fitch expects to resolve the ratings watch negative stance once the outcome of the proposed deal is announced.
APPLE PAY BOOST FOR ANZ AUSTRALIA
ANZ Australia, the first Australasian bank to offer customers Apple Pay, says the move is driving customers to open accounts and start using dormant credit cards. ANZ started offering Apple Pay in April. Fairfax Australia reports ANZ claiming year-on-year growth of more than 60% in digital sales of transaction accounts during May.
STOCKS HIGHER
Apart from Shanghai, equities are higher today, led by very strong gains in Sydney and Tokyo both of which are up more than +1% - more than +2% in Tokyo's case.
SWAP RATES RISE, STEEPEN
Local swap rates are higher and steeper today following Friday's rise on Wall Street. They are up +2 to +4 bps - and remember this is on top of Friday's +3 to +5 bps. NZ swap rates are here. The 90-day bank bill rate is down -1 bps however, now at 2.33%.
NZ DOLLAR RISES, RISES
The local currency is firming. Is now at 71 USc, at 95.5 AUc, and 62.6 euro cents. The TWI-5 is now just over 74. Check our real-time charts here.
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3 Comments
" Households, particularly those on middle incomes, have become increasingly worried about where the economy is heading over the next few years. Normally this angst shows up when the actual economy is slowing, but that is not the case this time."
Yes. And this is what we should expect as the middle class position has been continuously eroded for several decades. In addition the realisation has dawned that when our government talks the economy, they sure are not taking about anything that is in our interest.
It’s not quite Brexit. But just two days before the U.K. goes to the polls, a throng of German academics, politicians and ordinary citizens are pinning their hopes on a different breakaway.
Germany’s highest court will deliver judgments on Tuesday in five separate cases seeking to stop the country from participating in a controversial bond-buying plan that underpinned European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s 2012 vow to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.
While plaintiffs want to mend the EU rather than split from it, their cases echo the "taking back control” motives that Brexit supporters have raised. Read more
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