A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; Fitch negative on Aussie banks, Auckland rents fall, food costs unchanged, SFF posts loss, swaps unchanged, NZD holds, GBP falls

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
The Nelson Building Society raised its 1 and 2 year fixed rates by +14 bps and +26 bps respectively.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank changed rates for 4 months (up to 3.40%) and 6 months (down to 3.20%). RaboDirect also cut its 6 month rate (to 3.40%), but raised its 4 and 5 year rates to 4.05% and 4.15% respectively. Bank of Baroda raised its 1 to 5 years rates today too, up by +20 bps to +40 bps.

FITCH LOWERS OUTLOOK ON AUSSIE BANKS
Fitch has lowered its outlook on Australian banks, including the parents of NZ's big four banks, to negative from stable. The credit ratings agency says this reflects an increase in macroeconomic risks and pressure on profit growth. Property is the key risk, Fitch says, with household debt high and rising relative to disposable incomes, making borrowers sensitive to labour market and interest rate changes. Fitch currently has AA- ratings with stable outlooks on the big four Aussie banks.

RENTAL PRESSURE POINTS MOVE
Rents in Auckland dropped $10 a week in December from November. However, over all of 2016 asking rents on Trade Me Property rose strongly in Wellington, up almost +10%, but showed only modest gains in Auckland (up +3%) and actually declined in Christchurch (-2.5%).

FOOD COSTS NO MORE
Food prices rose +0.6% in the year to December. Fruit and vegetable prices fell -0.8%. Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell -0.2. Grocery food prices rose +0.9%. Non-alcoholic beverage prices fell -0.5%. Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose +1.8%.

OUT WITH A LOSS
Silver Fern Farms final accounts to September 2016 report a NZ$31 mln loss, after a one-off writedown of $22 mln. This was pretty much as signaled by their board. This company is now a 50/50 venture with Shanghai Maling who tipped in $267 mln for their half share.

A FREE PASS FOR SOME LANDLORDS
All rental homes must have ceiling and underfloor insulation to the required standard by 1 July 2019. Landlords with low-income tenants can apply for one of 20,000 insulation grants. To qualify for a grant, tenants must have a Community Services Card, or a low income and health issues related to cold, damp housing. Landlords that don't get a grant will need to meet the standard anyway, so applying early will be key.

AN AUSSIE GETS THE GIG
BNZ has appointed Paul Carter as its new director of retail banking and marketing, replacing Craig Herbison. Carter is currently executive general manager for wealth products at National Australia Bank, and is ex-BCG. BNZ is talking up his "very strong track record of lifting customer satisfaction"

WHOLESALE RATES STABLE
Despite strong moves up on Wall street at the end of last week, local wholesale rates have changed very little today. They are up +1 bp across most terms. The 90 day bank bill however is up +2 bps to 2.00%.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDING
The currency market will be subdued today an tomorrow because it is a public holiday weekend in the US. The NZD is holding at 71.1 USc. On the cross rates, it is slightly softer at 94.9 AUc, and at 66.9 euro cents. The TWI-5 index is at 77. The currency story today however is about the UK Pound, again. It is currently at 59.1 UKP having traded at 59.4 at 12:30pm, and that was only 30 bps off the all-time high we achieved on November 9, 2016. Check our real-time charts here.

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