A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; no rate changes; welfare advisory group; financial year end releases; cyber defence; China industrial profits; rates lower; bitcoin lower; NZD higher

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report today.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No changes here either.

WELFARE ADVISORY GROUP ESTABLISHED
"The Welfare Expert Advisory Group has been asked to undertake a broad-ranging review of the welfare system. It will deliver advice to the Government on ways to ensure people have an adequate income and standard of living, are treated with respect, can live in dignity, and are able to participate meaningfully in their communities. Areas that the Welfare Expert Advisory Group has been asked to focus on range from considering the overall purpose of the system, through to specific recommendations on the current obligations and sanctions regime." Minister for Social Development, Hon Carmel Sepuloni said. See bios of group members here.

F&P HEALTHCARE
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited today reported record net profit after tax of NZ$190.2 million for the year ended 31 March 2018, an increase of 12% over the previous year. Operating revenue was a record NZ$980.8 million, 10% above the prior year, with 87% of revenue from recurring items, such as consumables and accessories. The company’s directors have approved an increased fully imputed final dividend of 12.50 cents per share, taking the total dividends for the year to 21.25 cents per share, an increase of 9% on the previous year.

SBS PROFIT DIPS AFTER WAREHOUSE PURCHASE
SBS has posted a $785,000, or 2.9%, drop in March year net surplus to $26.663 million. The drop was attributed to the acquisition costs of the Warehouse Group Financial Services. Both lending and retail funding increased 11% year-on-year, SBS says. Chairman John Ward says the acquisition was a strategic decision to facilitate growth.

BRENDAN O'DONOVAN TO CHAIR THE CO-OPERATIVE BANK
The Co-operative Bank has posted a 1.2% increase in annual profit before rebates and tax to $16.7 million for its March year. The bank is paying $2.1 million in rebates to 115,000 customers in June. Co-op grew mortgage lending by 8.5% and retail deposits by 8.1%. It added about 14,000 customers, increasing its customer base to 165,000, and now has 13,000 credit card customers. Chairman Steven Fyfe retires in June to be succeeded by ex-Westpac economist Brendan O'Donovan, a Co-op director since 2012.

EXPANSION OF CYBER DEFENCE SERVICE
Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Hon Andrew Little, has announced the agency will expand its Malware-Free Networks (MFN) cyber defence initiative. “We live in an increasingly global and connected world in which reckless and malicious cyber activity poses a threat to our digital information and our economic wellbeing. To further help address this threat GCSB will offer its Malware-Free Networks cyber threat detection and disruption service to a broad cross section of New Zealand’s organisations of national significance. The decision to expand Malware-Free Networks follows a successful pilot with Vodafone and a small subgroup of Vodafone’s consenting customers. The pilot showed the Malware-Free Networks capability has the potential to disrupt a significant volume of malicious cyber activity. There was a substantial increase in the volume of activity detected and disrupted when the Malware-Free Networks information was used in conjunction with the network operator’s existing cyber security capability." Minister Little said.

CHINA INDUSTRIAL PROFITS
Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms in April rose at their fastest pace in six months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Sunday, as factories benefited from higher prices and strong demand. Profits in April rose 21.9 percent year-on-year to 576 billion yuan ($90.14 billion), the quickest since October, bringing gains for the first four months of 2018 to 15 percent. The data suggests China’s industrial sector is still seeing solid growth momentum despite curbs on pollution and rocky trade relations with the United States. Last month’s rebound was helped by lower comparison figures for April 2017, higher factory prices and stronger demand, He Ping, head of NBS’ industrial division, said in a statement.

BENCHMARK INTEREST RATES LOWER
Local swap rates are lower today, with the short end down -1 bps and the long end down -3 bps. The UST 10yr yield has dropped -6 bps to 2.93%. The Aussie Govt 10 yr is now at 2.74% (down -5 bps). The China 10 yr is at 3.64%, down -5 bps. And the NZ Govt 10 yr is down -6 bps to 2.73%. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +1 bps to 2.00%.

BITCOIN LOWER
The bitcoin price is now at US$7,357 which is down -2.7% from this time Friday.

NZ DOLLAR HIGHER
The NZD is up to 69.5 USc. We are little changed against the Aussie at 91.7 AUc, and up slightly against the euro at 59.4 euro cents. That has the TWI-5 now at 72.4.

This chart is animated here. For previous users, the animation process has been updated and works better now.