A review of things you need to know before you go home Thursday; term deposit and savings account rate changes; terms of trade; information exchange; state sector productivity; Australian house prices and retail sales; rates and NZD lower

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report today.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
ANZ has reduced the premium (bonus) interest rate on its Serious Saver account by -15 bps to 2.10%. The base rate remains unchanged at 0.10% and thus the total interest rate is 2.20%.
Westpac has reduced its $10,000 and above term deposit rates for 3 mnths, 6mnths and 1 yr to 2.80%, 3.30% and 3.30% respectively. The changes have also been mirrored across to the Term PIE rates. Westpac Supergold rates have also been reduced for 6 mnths and 1 yr to 3.30% and 3.20% respectively.
Other rate changes include a reduction in the savings account rates at Police Credit Union and BNZ's Business First OnCall and Farm First Call accounts.

TERMS OF TRADE HIGHEST SINCE 1973
Terms of trade is a measure of the purchasing power of New Zealand’s exports abroad. It rose +5.1% in the March quarter, compared to the December quarter, and  +7.8% compared to March 2016. This means that New Zealand can buy +5.1% more imports for the same amount of exports. The rise in export price in March 2017 quarter was +8% and rise in import prices was at +2.7%. In terms of services, the terms of trade was stable with an increase of +0.1% for the March 2017 quarter, compared to the December quarter, and  +2.6% compared to March 2016.

AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
From 1 July 2017, financial institutions in New Zealand will be required to identify accounts held or controlled by foreign tax residents and collect relevant information.  This information will be passed on to Inland Revenue by 30 June every year, who will pass this information on to the relevant foreign tax authorities to ensure everyone is paying the right amount of tax. Taxpayers’ privacy and data security are important concerns and information will be shared safely and securely. The information campaign targets foreign tax residents with accounts here but also New Zealanders with accounts overseas.

STATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY
Steven Joyce has release the terms of reference for the Productivity Commisssion's inquiry into State sector productivity. The inquiry will be particulary focused on core health, education, justice and social support services as the Government tries to help more New Zealander's for every dollar of tax payers money.

GOFF'S BED TAX PASSED
Auckland councillors have voted in favour of the targeted tax for accomodation providers. This tax was strongly opposed by the hospitality industry but Phil Goff hopes the tax will cover half the cost of hosting major events in Auckland and tourism promotion costs.

WESTPAC NZ BOND ISSUE
Westpac New Zealand is set to issue $500 mln worth of senior unsecured bonds with an interest rate of 3.775%, priced at a margin over swap of 1.10%, maturing 7 June 2022.

AUSTRALIAN HOUSE PRICES
CoreLogic data shows that for the month ending 31 May 2017 house prices aggregated across the five capital cities were down 1%. Sydney was down 1.3% and Melbourne 1.7%, but both cities were still up over 11% for the year.

AUSTRALIAN RETAIL SALES
Retail sales in Australia rose by 1% in April 2017, seasonally adjusted, following a fall of 0.2% in March 2017. The rise was primarily driven by a rise in food retailing, retaurant, cafe and takeaway spending and department store retailing.

CHINA MANUFACTURING CONTRACTS
The Caixin PMI released this afternoon was recorded at 49.6, down from 50.3 in April and lower than the forecast of 50.1. It showed that for the first time in 11 months, operating conditions for manufacturers deteriorated, company's shed more jobs due to weaker demand and falling factory prices.

WHOLESALE RATES LOWER
Local swaps curve was lower and flatter with the short end rates falling by -1 bps and the long end by -2 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is -1 bps lower at 1.96%.

NZ DOLLAR LOWER
After testing resistance at the 71 USc level overnight, the NZD has fallen to trade around 70.7 USc. On the crosses we are at 95.6 AUc, and at 62.8 euro cents. The TWI-5 is now at 75.0.

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