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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; no rate changes, linker yields low, frosty housing market, Kiwi access to US visas improved, swaps rise, NZD stable

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Thursday; no rate changes, linker yields low, frosty housing market, Kiwi access to US visas improved, swaps rise, NZD stable

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

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No changes here either.

A LINKER LOW
Today's inflation-linked NZGB bond tender has delivered a 1.95% yield (plus CPI inflation, of course). This is the same low result as the previous equivalent tender, the lowest ever over the history of the ten tenders for this duration.

COOLING OFF FAST
The housing market is looking frosty this winter, with new listings and inventory down and asking prices cooling in July.

MORE TO IT
Evern though today's report of the Aussie trade balance to June brought the good news of a surplus of good & services at twice the expected net level, a closer look at the detail shows this was because of a strong uptick in exports of gold. In the year to June, gold exports amounted to more than AU$20 bln, about a $5 bln rise on the same period a year ago. The overall goods and services surplus for the same year decreased more than AU$6 bln. And this is considered 'good' because the decrease was half as large again in May.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OBJECT LESSON
In Australia, following news major bank CBA was cutting fixed rates, ANZ has announced similar plans of its own. The Banking Royal Commission has raised risk premiums and put upward pressure on all bank funding costs - except the big four. The result will be the big four will win even more market share now. The smaller banks can't access wholesale money at the rates the big ones do (scales is a core issue) and are at a competitive disadvantage now. The populist "going after the banks" may be backfiring badly - but readers of this service were reading that was the likely outcome more than a year ago here.

A NEW SPURT FOR TECH
It's long been the achilles heal of technology, but recent advances in battery capability and energy storage are taking on a life like Moore's Law. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration right now, but the advances are coming fast anyway and the pace is sure to pick up given the opportunities.

BETTER ACCESS, STRONG RELATIONSHIP
The US has passed a law (wich the President has now signed, giving New Zealanders access to E1 and E2 visas which previously has been a major issue for New Zealand business people wanting to access the US market. The Prime Minister said "a sign of the strength of the New Zealand-United States relationship".

SWAP RATES RISING
Local swap rates are up +1, +2 or +3 bps today across the board, steepening the curve. The UST 10yr is up by +2 bps on the positive US Fed review and is now at 3.00%. The Aussie Govt 10yr is at 2.74 and up +3& bps today, the China Govt 10yr is at 3.51% down -1 bp, while the NZ Govt 10 yr is at 2.84%, up +2 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 1.91%.

BITCOIN BOUNCES
The bitcoin price is now at US$7,686, recovering +1.8% after yesterdays sharp -7%+ fall.

NZD UNCHANGED
The NZD is little changed at 67.9 USc. We are also little changed on the cross rates at 91.8 AUc, and the euro at 58.2 euro cents. That leaves the TWI-5 at 71.4.

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End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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3 Comments

What happened to me was my son-in-law asked my advice about finding a job in Auckland with his IT hardware experience. By coincidence I read this article a few minutes later. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/07/31/173533/labour-inspector-falls-sho…
What chance does an honest but low paid worker have?

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Gosh, who would have thought. God forbid the banks would look at a borrowers actual expenses, and you’re not even supposed to lie about your income any more, that’s just not fair

http://nzh.tw/12097867

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We found the banks showed a great level of scrutiny when we bought last year. We were only a 1 income household at the time with a new born so that wouldn’t have been favourable.

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