A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; TSB Bank raises rates, ASB leverages profit higher, population grows & gets younger, LGFA debt popular, swaps up & steeper

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
TSB Bank has raised most of its fixed rates for 2 to five year fixed terms. The rises range from +5 to +10 bps. This is their second increase in two weeks.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
TSB Bank has raised its nine month TD rate to a market-leading 3.80%.

A PROFITABLE BUSINESS
It is bank reporting season again and ASB has broken above the half billion dollar mark for six month profit. CEO Barbara Chapman is talking up the 'strong momentum' in the bank. Their return on shareholder funds invested is back up to 16.1% pa. which will probably be an industry high when all the other banks have reported in. Very high leverage spices up these returns. Having said all that, ASB contributes less than 10% of parent CBA's profits. CBA has posted a record half-year profit of AU$4.9 bln. At the same time it hiked interest rates for property investor lending in Australia.

FAST IS GOOD
UFB is gaining real traction. Thirty one per cent of New Zealanders with access to Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) are now connected, up +13% in the last three months. The December 2016 Quarterly Broadband Update shows the number of households, business, schools and hospitals connected to UFB has increased from 288,790 to 327,864 since September 2016.

MORE & YOUNGER
From October to December 2016 our population grew by +27,400 its second fastest quarterly growth ever (the fastest was by +28,600 in the March 2016 quarter). For the full 2016 year, the growth was +98,000, which is the fastest annual pace ever. That is +2.1% in a year, up to 4,746,100. At this rate we should hit 5 mln by 2020. The other interesting detail in today's population data release is that the median age is getting younger, and is now 37 years. That is the lowest since median age since the end of 2010. This data was updated by Statistics NZ today. A younger population means the time when retirees put severe pension stress on public budgets is pushed out further.

STRONG DEMAND, LOWER YIELDS
There was a very strong result in today's LGFA $160 mln bond tender. All the 2020 bonds were allotted at lowest yields offered for each term. The overall coverage ratio was an impressive 4.4 times. Weighted average yields are slightly lower across all terms.

CREAMING IT
A2 Milk has exceeded market forecasts today and shown that Bellamy's and Murray Goulburn's poor results in Australia are not systemic. Unlike some key local competitors, A2 Milk has boasted of "strong growth in demand" for its infant milk formula in China as it posted a whopping +290% surge in interim earnings. Its result also benefited from buoyant demand for its distinctive milk products as it pushes into new markets in the US and UK.

WHOLESALE RATES UP & STEEPER
We are getting a 'healthy' steepening of the wholesale rate curve today. The two year is up another +2 bps while the five year is up another +5 bps. The ten year is also up +5 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is also up today, now at 2.04%.

NZ DOLLAR STILL GOING NOWHERE
There is little to note on the currency front again today. Against the US dollar we are almost unchanged on the day at 71.7 USc. On the cross rates we are at 93.5 AUc, and at 67.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 index is still at 77.3. Check our real-time charts here.

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