Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you already work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).
MORTGAGE/LOAN RATE CHANGES
Nothing today.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
None to report so far here either.
STAYING COLD
The July REINZ report shows that the housing market remained cool in July. There was not a lot of movement with sales volumes low, the median price down slightly and the HPI up slightly.
FEWER JOB ADS
Job ads fell for a fourth consecutive month in July, down -25% from the same month last year. The anticipated sharp cooling in the labour market is beginning. It is toughest in the south, and toughest in the FIRE sector.
PRESCIENT?
The RBNZ household inflation expectations survey, one they are paying much more attention to these days, shows households expect CPI inflation to be 6.0% over the next year, and then fall to 3.3% in the following year. Interestingly StatsNZ said CPI inflation was 6.0% in the year to June, so there isn't the divergence there used to be. But 6% is still far above where the RBNZ needs it to be. These same households said house prices will be unchanged in a year, but up +7% in five years time. More here.
CASH EARNINGS SLIP
NAB's Q3 trading update revealed that cash earnings before tax and credit impairment charges declined -5% on margin pressure and more credit provisioning. NAB is BNZ's parent. BNZ represents 9% of the NAB Group assets. Full year results for the year to September won't be released on November 9, 2023 and that is when we will get BNZ details. In the 2021/22 year BNZ earnings rose +13.7% when the NAB Group earnings rose +8.2% in the same period.
INCOMES UP MORE THAN INFLATION FOR MOST
Stats NZ released data today that showed for the year to June 2023, median weekly incomes rose +7.1% to $1273. CPI inflation over the same period was 6.0%. For men the rise was +6.1% and for women by +8.1%. But that still left the overall pay gap at -8.6% for women, they said. Income from Government transfers increased by $30/week of +7.5% to average $432. Income for the self-employed had no change, remaining at $767/week.
'HALF ARE STRUGGLING'
The Retirement Commission says their research reveals over half of the people surveyed this quarter are feeling the pinch financially (54%) with 51% ‘starting to sink, or treading water’ and a further 3.5% ‘sinking badly’. This marks the widest gap between those who are ‘starting to swim/swimming happily’ and those who are ‘treading water/sinking a bit’ since we started surveying back in February 2021. And the gap is widening for women compared to men in terms of optimism, financial sentiment, personal savings and savings for retirement they say.
NERVOUS AHEAD OF THE DAIRY AUCTION
Maybe half our dairy farmers are 'struggling' too? There is a GDT auction event tomorrow. The NZX dairy analysts suggest it will be a weak one, with WMP prices trending toward US$2600/tonne which would be a -9% fall if it got there tomorrow. Rather they think tomorrow will 'only' bring a -6% fall. SMP might bring a -3.3% fall, and butter a -2.2% fall. And they remind us that China has produced +25% more WMP over the last 12 months while the domestic consumption of the commodity down -8.7%. H/T AWB.
HSBC RETAIL WIND-DOWN 'PROGRESSING AS ANNOUNCED'
The wind-down of HSBC's New Zealand wealth and personal banking business "is progressing as announced in June," according to a Sydney-based HSBC spokeswoman. She says HSBC continues "to support and communicate with our customers on items related to their banking needs and ask that our customers contact us if they have any questions." On June 13 HSBC announced it would wind-down its NZ retail banking operations over several years, stopping accepting new customers with immediate effect.
JAPAN SHINES
In Japan, strong export growth propelled their economy in Q2-2023, up at a 6.0% annualised rate, far higher than expected (+3.1%) or the Q1 expansion (+3.7%). It was the third consecutive quarter of strong growth. Japan not only has unusual growth, it also has unusual inflation which is running at a +3.3% rate.
CHINA DATA LACKLUSTER
Meanwhile, China is in economic defence mode. Their central bank cut its one-year medium-term lending facility rate by -15 bps to 2.50% today. It's their biggest cut since 2020. This came after Chinese new bank loans plunged almost -90% from June to the lowest since late 2009. And it came as they released industrial production data that was weaker than expected. This was so even after steel production surged more than +14%, so a sharp cutback there seems almost inevitable. And retail sales were weaker than expected too. However, electricity production was up +3.6% from a year ago, a slightly enhanced rate from June, maybe because they kept production higher than end-market demand. A lot of steel would go into property development, but their national real estate development investment was -8.5% lower than a year ago, and that base wasn't flash in the first place.
SWAPS HIGHER
Wholesale swap rates are probably higher again across all tenors. However, the real action in swap rates comes near the close. Our chart will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is little-changed yet again at 5.65% and now +15 bps above the 5.50% OCR. The Australian 10 year bond yield is up +5 bps from this time yesterday at 4.26%. The China 10 year bond rate is down -5 bps at 2.59% and a three year low. And the NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +5 bps to 5.01% and its highest since 2011, and still higher than the earlier RBNZ fix which was up +6 bps bps at 4.94%. The UST 10 year yield is at 4.20% and up another +2 bps from yesterday and its highest since October 2022. Rising long rates are a global trend (except in China).
EQUITIES SHARPLY LOWER IN SHANGHAI AGAIN
The NZX50 is down a marginal -0.1% again today in late trade. The ASX200 is up +0.5%, mainly on the hope that the Chinese will now come up with significant stimulus. Tokyo has opened its Tuesday session up +0.7% in morning trade. Hong Kong has opened down another sharp -0.9% and Shanghai is down another -2.2%. Fear is spreading over the Chinese economy situation and the locals don't have the Aussie optimism on imminent stimulus. The S&P500 ended its Monday session up +0.6%.
GOLD SOFT
In early Asian trade, gold is at US$1906/oz and down a further -US$5 from yesterday. Earlier in New York it closed at US$1907, and wearlier still in London it closed at US$1904/oz.
NZD ON HOLD
The Kiwi dollar is holding, up +20 bps from this time yesterday at just under 59.8 USc. Against the Aussie we are soft at 92.1 AUc. Against the euro we firm at 54.8 euro cents. That means the TWI-5 is at 68.8 and up about +20 bps.
BITCOIN STILL NOT GOING ANYWHERE
The bitcoin price is virtually unchanged - again -since tis time yesterday, now at US$29,351 and up a minor +US$76 or +0.3%. Volatility has stayed low at just on +/- 0.7%.
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