A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; home loan and TD rates rise, population age falls; no spring surge; big pay packages; swap rates steeper, NZD weaker

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
The Co-operative Bank raised all its rates for terms of 3 years and longer. No bank has cut their floating rate in response to the OCR cut on Thursday.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
The Co-operative Bank raised its TD offers for terms of 1 year to 4 years. NZCU South raised their 6 to 24 month TD offers.

MORE & YOUNGER
There are now more than 4.7 mln people in the country as residents. The latest data by Statistics NZ was updated today as at the end of September and it shows that our population grew by 84,800 in the year and is now 4,705,400. One interesting fact is that we are getting younger! In fact, the median age is now 37.1 years and that is the third year in a row where where it has fallen. We are now younger than the USA which has a median age of 37.9 years, than Australia where it is 38.6 yrs and Canada where it is 42 years. Our 37.1 median age takes us back to where we were in 2011. However, those over 65 now make up 15.0% of our population, up from 13.8% five years ago. Without the rise in migration which is younger, this ratio would have grown much faster.

FEWER & HIGHER
House prices set new record in Auckland but there was a big drop in sale numbers, according to REINZ data out today for October. Interestingly, there is no sign of the usual spring lift in sales in the housing market this year as sales numbers plummet. This was the sixth consecutive monthly decline and sales are now at their lowest level since January 2015. On an annual basis, house sales were down -14% from last year, due to equal declines in both the North and South Islands.

PAY CUT FOR HISCO, RISES FOR HEALY & MCLEAN
BNZ CEO Anthony Healy and Westpac NZ CEO David McLean both received big pay rises in their banks' latest financial years. ANZ NZ CEO David Hisco, however, saw his remuneration drop. Hisco's September year pay, including cash salary, incentives and a range of non-cash benefits, dropped A$399,330, or 9%, year-on-year to just under A$4.067 million. Healy's increased by A$446,606, or 23%, to A$2.378 million. McLean, who was appointed CEO in February 2015, received a A$592,783, or 37%, increase to A$2.181 million. ASB CEO Barbara Chapman's remuneration is never released by CBA.

A MORE MODEST OUTLOOK
We have the next dairy auction on Wednesday morning and last week we sensed lower prices in the dairy futures markets. However, today the sense is they are a little higher. With the falling exchange rate (see below), the gains in NZD could be quite strong. At present, the futures markets suggest a rise in WMP prices of about +3% (and in NZD, a rise of +5%). At the previous auction, the rise in WMP was +20%.

BIG WRITEOFF
Harvey Norman is a franchised retail chain. The latest publicly filed accounts show that "tactical support" to its franchisees (loans by HO to them that have gone sour and can't be repaid) have swelled to over A$0.5 bln. The brand needs the franchisees to push out the product, but the retail locations are doing it below cost - in this case, their advertising is real!

WHOLESALE RATES STEEPEN AGAIN
Another day, another sharp rise in longer term rates with the curves still getting steeper. Today they are up unchanged for 2 years, up +3 for 5 years, and up +6 bps for 10 years. The 1-5 curve is now +66 bps, its steepest since June 2014. The 2-10 curve is now +101 bps, its steepest since April 2014. The 90-day bank bill is unchanged at 2.08%. Around the world, there are fears investors will suffer from these rising rates, and in particular, corporate treasurers fear the 'bondcano' that is rumbling. Locally, ASB is saying that today's earthquakes could bring another "interest rate cut next year if economic disruption leads to a fall in confidence".

NZ DOLLAR WEAKER
The Kiwi dollar is in a downward trend and now at 71 USc which is more than 1c lower than this time Friday and more than 2½c lower than on Thursday. Roger J Kerr is speculating that the RBNZ may have intervened to push it down recently. On the cross rates, it is trading under 94 AUc, and is at 65.7 euro cents. The TWI-5 is at 75.7. Check our real-time charts here.

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