A review of things you need to know before you go home Wednesday; Labour provides direction; Labour Inspectorate investigation; Australian CPI, Fletcher earnings guidance, China PSC, rates higer, NZD lower

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report here today.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No changes here either.

LABOUR PROVIDES DIRECTION
Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern has released a list of her portfolio ministers coupled with some new portfolios that will be created. New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Labour Deputy Leader Kelvin Davis takes on a new Crown/Maori Relations portfolio, Grant Robertson will be Minister of Finance and Jacinda Ardern will take on a new portfolio as Minister for Child Poverty Reduction. There will be a special emphasis on their KiwiBuild strategy and regional development.

BOTTOM OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN
The Labour Inspectorate is calling on large brands and franchisors to ensure that the bottom of their supply chain is being fairly compensated. This comes after employees of 17 Caltex stations were paid more than $125,000 as a result substantive minimum wage breaches and other systemic breaches. Poor systems in place at the stations meant that holiday pay and minimum wage were not correctly paid and 232 former and current employees were owed arrears. The Labour Inspectorate said that a survey conducted by Consumer Protection noted that knowing a business treats its workers fairly or not impacts consumers' purchasing decisions.

AUSTRALIAN CPI
The Australian CPI rose by +1.8% in the year ending September 2017 and rose +0.6% for the September quarter. This compares to a +1.9% increase in the year ending June 2017 and +0.2% for the June quarter itself. Most significant price rises were in electricity, tobacco, international holiday travel and accommodation and dwelling purchases by owner occupiers. The largest falls were in vegetables, automotive fuel and telecommunication equipment and services.

FLETCHER EARNINGS GUIDANCE
Fletcher Building has issued its earnings guidance for the FY18 year to be $520 mln to $640 mln. This includes a $160 mln loss for the buildings and interiors team. Chairman Sir Ralph Norris said that a considerable amount of remedial action has been taken to address the issues they have with the buildings and interiors team. However, these actions will not alter the trajectory of projects that have already started. Instead they will focus on bidding, contracting and managing of future projects. For now, Fletcher Building's focus is to deliver the existing projects, while mitigating future losses and ensuring client satisfaction.

CHINA TO ANNOUNCE PSC
After months of intense negotiations, China is set to announce its Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) for the next five years. The committee will consist of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang and the rest will be new faces.

WHOLESALE RATES HIGHER
Swap rates higher and steeper today with 2 yr rate up +1 bps, 5 yr up +2 bps and 10 yr up +4 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 1.94%.

NZ DOLLAR LOWER
The NZ dollar is nearly 0.8 cents lower from this time yesterday, trading at 69 USc. On the cross rates we are at 89.2 AUc and 58.6 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still about 71.9. The bitcoin price is down to US$5,432.

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