A review of things you need to know before you go home Thursday; no rate changes, why houses cost so much, fewer on benefits, NZGB bond yields rise, retail wages 'rise', swaps and NZD stable

Japan kicking the can out of the stadium.

The Bank of Japan kept its monetary stimulus program unchanged even as it pushed back the projected timing for reaching 2 percent inflation for a sixth time.

The central bank pledged to maintain its yield-curve control program and asset purchases, a result predicted by all 43 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The BOJ now expects to hit its 2 inflation target around the fiscal year starting in April 2019, a year later than a previous projection. It also cut its price estimates for the current and next fiscal years. Read more

China's overseas acquisition streak seems to be coming to an unhappy end. Outward direct investment fell by 46 percent in the first half of the year, due partly to tightened capital controls and partly to new restrictions on "irrational investments." But the authorities should be asking a more fundamental question: Why do China's companies struggle so much overseas? Read more

Auction results looks pretty bad this week, seems to be a few firesales and the rest not sold...

Macquarie: Central Bank Quantitative Interest Rate Repression Creates “Slaves”

It’s worth noting on a day when the 4-week T-bill prices still less in equivalent yield than the RRP even though the 3-month bill has nearly inverted with the 6m due to Treasury’s dwindling accounting tricks to defer the debt ceiling. Read more and more

Issues surrounding Chinese companies, their offshore deal making, corporate bonds , debt issues ,accounting irregularities sometimes turn up on this website. After the local takeaway our most well known Chinese company is possibly Shanghai Pengxin ,( for some it may be Great Wall ) the buyer of the Crafer farms , or as often translated El Crappo ranch, on Chinese financial websites. El Crappo and the other acquired farms were hived off into the Schenzhen listed Hunan Dakang, alongside a failing pig business ,a sheep breeding venture, loss making ,certainly not the venture as described in its OIO filings, or in its MOU with Landcorp and Massey University. Recently Dakang has ventured into Brazil and grains. It has funded itself , by debt, a lot of debt, a significant amount is due 1 year., Its annual report along with the accounting irregularities has been rewritten and its shares have been suspended , since March , undergoing the quaint term of restructuring, (or we need finance.)and having to account for multiple queries from the securities commission. On August 23 , a corporate bond of 330 million plus the final interest payment at 7.3 percent is due. The company has cash flow problems. A large percentage of its shares are pledged, including those owned by Shanghai Pengxin If /when the company is removed from its trading halt , any fall in its share price will see margin calls with the potential that Shanghai Pengxin would no longer be the majority share holder .Given the gross overvaluation of Dakang , this is entirely feasible. Shanghai Pengxin is also the major shareholder of Pengxin International Mining,this is also suspended , since February from the Shanghai stock exchange, also undergoing 'major restructuring.'Again a large number of shares are pledged, copper has been pledged and Shanghai Pengxin is attempting to offload a waterlogged South African gold mine, (with a very unsavoury past, ) that it acquired in 2012 from the private company into the publically listed company , at 19x the original cost of its acquisition, and grossly inflated production costs.The securities commission is asking some very probing questions. Given the recent changes to mining concessions in South Africa, and the delay in the promised commencement of work on the mine , its equally likely that Pengxin could lose the licence due for renewal in February .An inter related company, Zhejiang Longsheng Auto Parts , now known as Kuangchi Technologies is also suspended having been very generous with a non public share offering, of which Shanghai Pengxin was a major benefactor along with Kuangchi Science( listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange )which makes inflatables and has recently overseen the demise of Martin Jetpack. If Shanghai Pengxin can maintain political favour, if its publically listed companies can have their share prices propped and it repays it bond on August 23, the company will roll on , if not a large number of dominoes will fall.

Low unemployment.ten percent more job ads compared to last year.I blame the government! !!