Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report today, so far.
DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
NZCU Baywide are offering higher rates for their 6, 9 and 12 month term deposits.
NEW CREDIT CARD OFFER
ASB has launched a new "low rate" credit card, one with no fees but still with up to 55 days interest free. The low rate is 13.5% although the cash advance rate is 22.95%. It is offering a 0% balance transfer rate for six months. Kiwibank also has a low rate card at 13.45% as does BNZ and Westpac. ANZ's is pitched at 13.90%. ASB's new Visa Lite is unique with its zero fee offer. The other bank's fees for their low rate cards range between $50 at Kiwibank to $65 at Westpac. Low rate cards are popular as most consumers are now realising that reward-type cards are actually very poor deals.
SUDDEN JOLT
Barfoots had its lowest October sales results for five years. The largest Auckland real estate agency suffered a drop of -27% in volume compared with a year ago. They say the new LVR measures hit hard at properties available for under $500,000.
UP AGAIN
The ANZ Commodity Price Index rose a further 0.7% in October. This was its sixth straight rise in a row. The index is +4% higher than at the same time last year. There were mixed movements between the different commodities in October. Wool (-6.8%) and beef (‑5.1%) suffered the largest falls. Butter (+6.5%), lamb (+5.5%) and aluminium (+4.5%) registered the largest gains.
THE BEST KIND OF CAR SMASH
October saw record new car sales, with 10,795 new passenger cars delivered. That pushed the twelve month total through 100,000 for the first time ever. Commercial vehicle sales were strong too. In a few days we will get used import car sales data and that should be strong as well. (By the way, that 10,795 beat an August 1975 event, so that record has stood for a very long time. Back then, an election bribe to relax import licensing levels for CKD cars was the event. Back then, people lined up for rationed new cars. The month before and the month after August 1975 were both very low.)
'THE MOST PROSPEROUS'
New Zealand has topped another international survey, this time for 'Prosperity'. The Legatum Institute analysis shows we beat all-comers in two of the sub-categories, are in the top five in three more. There are nine sub-categories.
HIGH-RISK SETTINGS
The New Zealand banking system is funded to the tune of $391.3 bln. In September, more than 37% of that was overnight money, almost 44% was for terms of less than 1 year, and only 19% was for longer than one year. This represents little or no progress in maturity over where it was a year ago. Given international uncertainties, bankers run with high-risk funding strategies.
FUNDING BOOST FOR THE FMA
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith says the Government has approved a funding increase for the Financial Markets Authority. The increase gives the FMA an extra $9.8 mln per year from July 2017, taking its annual funding to $36 mln. The Government, isn't however, tipping in any more money, maintaining the taxpayer contribution at $11 mln, as it was for the Securities Commission. Rather, levies paid by financial service providers are increasing. The big four banks, for example, will pay $535,000 each from next July, up from $304,348.
THE RICH GET RICHER
There are eight universities in New Zealand. But Auckland University has won one third of the 117 2016 Marsden Fund $65.2 mln basic research awards.
COAL TO THE RESCUE
Surging coal prices are forecast to deliver a further sharp improvement to Australia’s economy in coming months. Today they helped their trade deficit for September to fall -35% to -AU$1.2 bln. And apparently, there is more to come.
A MONUMENTAL SHIFT
Mainland China’s middle class will account for more than a third of its population by 2030, taking consumer spending to the level now seen in the European Union. About 35% of the population will have in excess of US$10,000 of annual disposable income by then, up from about 10% today, according to the report released on Wednesday by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
WHOLESALE RATES HOLD
Wholesale swap rates have held at their higher levels today. This is unique because such rates for our trading partners are still slipping on the Trump factor.. The 90-day bank bill is down -1 bp at 2.12%. We have also seen more +1 and +2 bps yield gains (price drops) in NZGBs.
NZ DOLLAR UP AGAIN
The recent spate of good economic news is pushing up the Kiwi dollar. It is now at 73 USc. On the cross rates, it is trading at 95 AUc, and is at 65.7 euro cents. The TWI-5 is up at 76.6. Check our real-time charts here.
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19 Comments
That Legatum Institute Analysis is very interesting. All you moaners and doomsters and anti Key people have got egg on your face now, eh?
You just don't know how lucky you are.
It would appear that Legatum can see where Trump is coming from:
American prosperity has stagnated over the past decade. Even countries that were less badly affected by the financial crisis, like Australia, have seen prosperity decline over the past decade. Indeed, it is the only country in the top 20 to have seen prosperity fall.
....and next week there could a another "report" that says something different. It does make interesting reading - New Zealand may be first is some categories but others such as health, safety and security, education and the environment New Zealand is some way down the list - I'd say could do better and not as "rosy" as you make out - but we wouldn't expect any less from you.
It's this sort of selective interpretation that allows a government and it's supporters to ignore what they don't like.
so probably does Norway or Switzerland.....
You can rank anything - someone has to come first and someone last. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, a "good" ranking doesn't mean we are good, only better than the other country's we are compared with - we may be the best of a bad bunch. I still come back to the misuse of the "report" as the means of a government to ignore important issues that a country faces e.g. health.
In this survey NZ has gone from fourth in 2010 to first in 2016. That is quite an endorsement of the National government. Not interfering too much is the Key - ha!
I get what you are saying BadRobot but I don't see much strength in your argument in noting that Norway or Switzerland consistently rate in the top rankings. The top countries are ALWAYS NW European and European majority British Commonwealth and there is very little analysis as to why that is.
There is only so much a government can do and success relies on the past history of the majority people almost entirely. Kiwis could theoretically do so much better and be head and shoulders above all other countries but it depends on individual responsibility which has been moulded by history. High incarceration rates, educational outcomes and health issues could be greatly improved but people have to do it for themselves somehow. An almost impossible task due to the influence of various historical processes. It is quite a problem because we cannot change history although some people are working on it believe it or not.
Some info from the survey:
New Zealand has had the biggest prosperity surplus in the world every year for the past decade. This surplus has grown slightly since 2007, indicating that New Zealand is delivering ever higher levels of prosperity with its growing wealth.
I like the sound of that! However,
In the Prosperity Sub-Index rankings, New Zealand performs best on Economic Quality and Social Capital and scores lowest on the Safety & Security sub-index.
Safety and security is almost entirely a matter of personal responsibility, of virtue or lack of it.
It's a bit arrogant to assume the the National government is responsible for the increase in rankings - it could just mean the the other country's have dropped or it could be the long term result of Labours years in government.
The rankings will always reflect the first world dominance.
"The Legatum Prosperity Index™ is a framework that assesses countries on the promotion of their citizens’ flourishing, reflecting both wealth and well-being across nine pillars of prosperity and 104 variables." - what a load of bollocks - like most studies of these kinds of things - trying to place a "hard" statistic on a "soft" feature and getting garbage in the process.
New Zealand ranks poorly in international child abuse statistics as an example of the wrong type of where we as a country rank highly - is that due to the National government as well.
I still come back to the misuse of these reports to say look how good we are when in reality it's not that simple.
If John Key told you to drink cyanide - would you ?
BadRobot, have you ever heard of the expression, "God's own country"? That's like another way of saying 'best of all possible worlds'. It's not that I am happy about things just that I realise that we can't improve it in one way without making it worse in some other way. Hence my using the quote, this is the best of all possible worlds. Emphasis on the word possible. I believe the high child abuse is the outcome of an historical process. I can think of remedies but they will likely impoverish us all or different solutions that some will no doubt think are draconian. I may be wrong but how do you change an historical imprint without some pretty strong medicine? So I'm just an observer, watching nature take its course.
I would describe myself more as ultra-conservative. I'm also a count your blessings sort of guy as well. I think it is important to realise that the world cannot and should not be perfect. I firmly believe that the road to hell is paved with good intentions too. Change should happen as gradually as possible. Ancestors and tradition should be respected. I reject the charge of nihilism.
Conservatism, be it right or left is the worst of all political systems, it is backward looking and patriarchal and often has a strong element of religion in it. Religion has no place in politics.
The human race's natural position is to go forward, otherwise we would all be living in caves still. While you might like things the way they are, others do not, and it is the young who will move things along, as they always have.
Meaningful progression needs to have a firm foundation upon which to build. Many revolutions flounder because they blame current misfortunes on the past. The Red Guards destroyed many great treasures in their rush to build a better world, a mistake that put them in the dustbin of history. These days the highly successful current regime of China sets up Confucius Institutes all over the world.
Our young revolutionaries should take note; religion and the patriarchy of the past are a source of strength for the future and have a lot to teach and be grateful for.
Kiwibank have advised me that as my term deposits mature, the implicit NZ Post (govt guarantee) will evaporate.... And for new deposits, that happens in Feb next year or something. So I suppose that Kiwibank will become just like all the others (OBR wise) except that it is govt owned and in a more complicated way.
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