A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday: Workers more confident; blowout trade deficit; 12% of new lending to first home buyers; bank removes sales incentives & soggy start to week for Asian shares

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no mortgage rate changes today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Police & Families Credit Union made the following changes to their deposit rates. 6 month term deposit interest rate increased to 3.60% pa (from 3.30% pa) & the 9 month term deposit interest rate decreased to 3.30% pa (from 3.50% pa).

Wairarapa Building Society cut their deposit rates for their $2,000 tier level from 3% to 2.75%.

SURGE IN EMPLOYMENT CONFIDENCE
Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Index jumps on signs workers are more confident about their current and future prospects. The biggest leap in employment confidence this quarter occurred in Canterbury, as confidence in the region shot to the highest level in the country. Bay of Plenty was the only region across NZ that didn't show an improvement in the general employment climate. Despite the positive employment environment, there was only a small improvement in earnings expectations over the next twelve months. Future earnings expectations continue to linger well below average levels and are only a touch above the all-time low reached late last year, the report showed.

TRADE BALANCE DEFICIT BLOWOUT
The fall in milk powder exports to the lowest level since August 2009 was cited by Stats NZ as one of the main factors behind a surprisingly large trade balance deficit for the month of August. The deficit of $1.265 bln was $500 mln worse than expected by the market. The rise in imports was broad-based rather than being because of a one-off transaction and points to improving domestic demand. Strong export volumes in the June 2016 quarter meant the large trade deficit this month had a smaller impact on the annual trade balance than it otherwise would have. Stats NZ also highlights that for the past 10-years there have been seven months with deficits larger than $1.0 billion. Three of these were August months. ASB's economists note NZ typically posts a deficit in August, as agricultural exports decline over the NZ winter. 

OWNER OCCUPIERS DOMINATE NEW LENDING
RBNZ's report on new and existing residential mortgage lending shows $6.1 bln of new loans were written in August, down 3% compared to last month's total but up 3% over a year ago. Of the new lending, 12% is classified as first home buyer, 54% is owner-occupiers, 33% is investors and the balance is for business purposes. For those new loans on interest only terms, owner-occupiers make up just over 54% of the total loans written.

BANK SALES INCENTIVES AXED
Westpac Banking Corporation in Australia has announced plans to remove all product related incentives from frontline staff in its retail branches as part of efforts to rebuild trust with its customers. The bank will be rewarding its 2,000 bank tellers based on customer feedback rather than the number of referrals or sales made. Westpac goes a step further saying all financial advisers will have to undergo ethics training.

SOGGY ASIAN TRADING SESSION
Asian stock markets have come under early pressure following a weaker close on Wall Street on Saturday morning NZ time. Many of the main Asian stock indices are down over 0.5% in early trading. The NZX is currently down 0.35% and Australia's ASX200 is off 0.2%. The biggest decliner on the NZX today has been Veritas (owners of Mad Butcher, Nosh and Better Bar Company) down 17% and currently trades at 19 cents. Today's sharp sell-off follows the company's business update with projections for growing EBITDA and profitability. ANZ have confirmed the term of the Group’s banking facilities beyond FY17.

WHOLESALE RATES FALL FURTHER
Bond and swap yields continued their decline with commentators pointing to the RBNZ statement of last week as being the driver. While NZ swap rates have fallen sharply since the RBNZ announcement, this is simply a reversal of the previous rally. Swap rates are now back to where they started the month. Today the swap curve was down 1 bps across the various terms. The 90-day bank bill rate currently sits at 2.2% down 2bps. You can find our chart for all terms of swap rates here.

NZ DOLLAR DOWN (AGAIN)
The NZD continues to be sold off but has spent most of today bouncing between US72.2c and US72.5c. Talks of parity with the Australian dollar appear to be shelved for now with the NZD/AUD cross rate trading around the 95c level. The NZD/USD cross rate is currently 72.3c, the NZD/AUD is trading at 94.9c and the TWI 5 is 75.3. Check our real-time charts here.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.