A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; mortgage rates dip, tractor record, Kiwis outpaced by Chinese, AMP in dogbox, 90 day bank bill rate rises, NZD slips

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
In case you missed it yesterday, there were some late changes. SBS Bank has reduced its one year fixed rate 'special' to 4.29%, a -6 bps drop. The Co-operative Bank has reduced its 18 month Owner-occupied rate by -16 bps to 4.49% and their two year fixed rate to 4.59% a -6 bps reduction.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Nothing to report here today.

UPSIDE
Today's dairy auction saw WMP prices inch up. But some analysts saw the outsized gains for butter and cheese as positive signs that in fact might have an upside for farmers in the milk price.

TRACTOR RECORD
Data released today shows that in the year to March, sales of new tractors were 3,025 which is the highest (equal) to any year since 1978, forty years ago. And I am certain a 2018 new tractor is vastly more accomplished than a 1978 one. (There were higher levels in 1974 when this data series started, but I think that was more due to an electioneering incentive at the time.)

NO LONGER TOP DOG
March data out in Australia today shows that Kiwi visitors to the "lucky country" no longer are the main source of holidaymakers. Kiwis made 1,357,600 short term trips there in the year to March. But visitors from China made 1,390,000 such visits, outranking Kiwis for the first time. We each supply about 15% of all their visitors, so almost one third of visitors to Australia come from just these two sources.

JAIL TIME?
And staying in Australia, admissions by AMP that it lied to investigators in attempts to hide evidence that it was charging clients for services it wasn't providing, has risked executives with charges that carry jail time. One may be Jack Regan, who ran AMP New Zealand until 2017.

FIRST MORTGAGE TRUST CAUTIOUS ON COMMERCIAL & RURAL PROPERTY
First Mortgage Trust says it has adjusted targeted asset allocation settings as a percentage of its $625 million fund. Residential property has been shifted to 40% to 80% from 10% to 75%, commercial property to 0% to 35% from 0% to 50%, and rural property to 0% to 25% from 0% to 50%. First Mortgage Trust, which has some 3,500 investors, says it's seeing less quality lending applications secured over commercial or rural property meaning there will be a higher concentration on, and potentially a higher level of, residential lending.

JAIL FOR CHC BUILDER
A businessman involved in the Canterbury rebuild has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail for not paying $1,517,293 of his employee’s tax deductions to Inland Revenue. Libor Lasek, 47, was sentenced on 44 charges relating to five building services companies in Christchurch District Court today. He had failed to pass on the PAYE deducted from his employees’ pay, along with KiwiSaver, child support, superannuation and student loan payments, over a four-year period.

BIG INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEM
The size of the 'freedom camping' issue has now been revealed. International visitors that did some freedom camping in New Zealand has almost doubled in two years, from 60,000 in the year ended 2015 to around 110,000 in the year ended 2017, according to MBIE analysis. Aussies and Germans make up the largest groups.

BENCHMARK INTEREST RATES SLIP AGAIN
Local swap rates are marginally lower by -1 bp across the board. The UST 10yr yield is now at 2.83%, (unchanged). The Aussie Govt 10 yr is now at 2.74% (down -2 bps). The China 10 yr is down sharply again, this time by -7 bps to 3.64%. This is something to watch as the China 10yr was 3.85% at the beginning of March and 3.78% at the beginning of April. The NZ Govt 10 yr is down -1 bp at 2.84%. However the 90 day bank bill rate jumped +2 bps to 2.05% today and that is the highest this has been since November 2016.

BITCOIN UNCHANGED
The bitcoin price is still under US$8,000, and now at US$7,919 which is less than a -1% retreat today.

NZ DOLLAR STILL INCHES DOWN
The NZD is down marginally at 73.4 USc. Ditto on the cross rates where we at 94.5 AUc again but slightly lower at 59.3 euro cents. That puts the TWI-5 at 74.4 and again just slightly lower than this time yesterday.

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