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
None here today.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
Cooperative Bank trimmed -5 bps from its 6 month TD. Update: TSB has trimmed all its TD offers for terms 5 months to 5 years.
A CONCRETE SLOWDOWN
In the March 2024 quarter, the volume of ready-mixed concrete produced was 867,854 m3, down -12% compared with the March 2023 quarter. And ignoring the one pandemic quarter when building stopped (813,000 m3), this is the lowest level for any quarter since March 2014. And don't forget, this production peaked in December 2021 at 1,290,000 m3. The building slowdown is here for real. It was especially grim in Wellington (down -38% from its peak).
YIELDS FALL IN NZGB TENDER, MOSTLY
There were 81 bids worth just over $1 bln for the $500 mln of NZGBs tendered today in three tranches. 12 bids won the $250 mln May 2030 tranche, at 4.59% yield and this was notable because that is down from 4.73% three weeks ago. The yield also fell for the May 2032 $225 mln, down from 4.82% to today's 4.66%. But the yield rose on the small $25 mln May 2041 offer, up to 5.03% from the six successful bids. It was up from 4.83% at the prior equivalent event two months ago.
IS $1 BLN ENOUGH?
Treasury says depositor compensation scheme fund to build up over 20 years, covering 0.8% of protected deposits and top $1 bln when that is matured.
NO SURPRISE
Rabobank has joined the pack, setting $8.40/kgMS as its 2024/25 initial farmgate milk payout estimate. That is the same level Westpac has already estimated, and between ANZ's $8.50 and ASB's $8.30/kgMS. More here.
NOT EVEN AN AFTERTHOUGHT
For the March 2024 quarter, ASB's parent, CBA, said profits fell -3% as higher interest rates saw late loan repayments rise. CBA is so big, ASB's contribution to all this didn't rate a mention. CBA's New Zealand operation is the smallest share of any of the large Aussie banks.
QUICK RISE
Fonterra said it has appointed Andrew Murray as its CFO, replacing Simon Till who was holding the position since Marc Rivers departed. Murry joined Fonterra in February 2023 as Commercial Director for Fonterra’s Global Markets business (from Simplot Australia), and will step into the Chief Financial Officer role on 1 August 2024.
FOREWARNED
Transpower has issued a warning that tomorrow morning will be very cold nationwide and there will be unusually high load on the electricity system. Brace for the unexpected.
SWAP RATES RISE
Wholesale swap rates are likely to be higher across the curve. Our chart below will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 5.63%, a level it has hovered around for more than 70 days. The Australian 10 year bond yield is up +9 bps from yesterday on global pressures, now at 4.41%. The China 10 year bond rate has recovered +9 bps at 2.32%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +11 bps to 4.81% and the earlier RBNZ fix was at 4.72% and back up +5 bps from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is down -2 bps from yesterday's close at 4.47%. Their 2yr is now at 4.84%, so the curve is deeper at -37 bps inverted.
EQUITIES MIXED
The NZX50 is down -0.7% near is close today. The ASX is down -0.8% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is up +0.5% in morning trade. Hong Kong is up +1.1% at their Thursday open; Shanghai is up +0.8%. Singapore has opened down -0.2%. Wall Street ended its Wednesday session with the S&P500 unchanged.
OIL FIRMS
The oil price is +US$1.50 higher today from this time yesterday, at just over US$79/bbl in the US, while now up +US$1 at just over US$83.50/bbl for the international Brent price.
GOLD LITTLE-CHANGED
In early Asian trade, gold is up +US$5 from this time yesterday, now just on US$2312/oz.
NZD HOLDS
The Kiwi dollar has risen +20 bps from this time yesterday to just under 60.1 USc. Against the Aussie we are firmer at 91.3 AUc. Against the euro we are also firmer at 55.9 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now about 69.4, and basically little-changed.
BITCOIN SLIPS
The bitcoin price has slipped to US$61,698 and another -1.6% lower than this time yesterday. Volatility of the past 24 hours has been modest again at +/- 1.7%.
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127 Comments
Back at the same level it was in January 2020, just before covid. Ups and downs since then of course, if you're into day trading.
Maybe the NZX50 is a more accurate reflection of the true state of the NZ economy than the S&P500, with its dependance on the big seven and an economy fuelled by massive debt?
Levitating while it watches and waits. There seems uncertainty of outcomes incl if interest rates will rise or drop
The reason given for sweden dropping cb rates 0.25 o/night to 3.75% equally apply to nz
US sharemkt still strong and performing ahead of expectations
I believe Switzerland dropped their rate 1-2 months ago.
Not sure if it's really love of a housing bubble so much as that's an endemic result of most developed economies, planning structures, and demographic shifts towards concentrating everyone in cities.
C'mon everyone, let's live where the rich people are, hopefully we'll be able to feed on their crumbs!
Power outages: Best to have a hot shower tonight then, just in case. And place matches next to the gas (opps running out) hob for the coffee pot.
Concrete: With BCs down so much and finance tight, there will be no bounce back for this number. That said I do not see concrete prices falling much.
Recall friends of the parents. As with many houses they had what was called a destructor. Section backed on to a bit of council woodland. Picked up & fed in pine cones, fallen branches etc kept the fire tampered down overnight. It heated the water the kitchen dinette and vented back through into the lounge and it had a hot plate for cooking. Of course such has long since been banned down here.
Yes, the nomlecture appears to be regional. In Western Southland at my grandparents it was a Destructer, However in the Waikato mine was known as a chippie. Did everything other commenters have noted. When I removed it for kitchen remodel six years ago the price I got for it on Trade Me was astounding. Went off to an accessible by water only off grid bach in the Far North.
I could only get one or two types of fires with wetbacks if I wanted one due to having to have a ULEB so sadly I had to forego it. A shame too as the piping could be plumbed down under the hallway and into the cylinder easy as heck. Ah well, solar on the horizon at some point so that'll have to suffice.
Maybe the could just ask people to set there heat pump or heater to run through the night on low , and switch off at 7a.m. A reasonably insulated home would stay warm for a couple of hours. if around 30 5 of the consumers heeded their advice , the crisis would be averted.
I think they have agreements with Nz steel and Tiwai , to cover this as well.
Chofu R32 (Daikin Japan pump) 10kW
Usual temp off just heat pump ~35-40degC. Theres an electronic controller for backup mains element: once a week it heats the HWC to 60degC to prevent legionaires (code compliant); takes about 3 days to cool down to 35degC
In addition to the HWC I am running hydronic underfloor central heating off this single heat pump. House temp set to 20degC min continuously all areas.
HWC Heatrae sadia Premier plus (UK) unvented solar indirect cylinder (dual circuit solar not connected, economics don't yet add up. Future?)
Power bills $80/m summer $180/m winter. 100m2 house, 2 bathrooms.
System 100% reliable for >4years now. Supplied & installed by Pipeline Lower Hutt.
People say that the last Labour govt were the worst ever, but I think that can only be judged after a decade or so. I have a feeling we will look back much less fondly on the cancellation of Lake Onslow, the cancellation of the clean car discount, more reliance on gas and coal exploration, no public transport or cycling, reinstating property investor tax perks, etc.
I think the opposite, I think over time they will be looked on very poorly. Definitely the worst ever. I intensely disliked Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, but at least they had my respect, they were in control and they mostly did what they said. They kept their ministers in line, unlike JC who was not in control at all.The last lot, I did not respect at all, And if fact it was embarrassing most of the time with constant failure and wasting of money. HC and MC balanced the books and paid down debt even though they left the country in recession. The last lot can’t really claim anything positive, and that is what they will be judged on.
Hopefully, the Labour party's holiday will give them a chance for a pause, and re-evaluation about their approach and strategy.
My guess is though that the virtue heavy, results starved mindset is fairly heavily entrenched there, likely taking another term in lead there before they take a shift back towards results orientated pragmatism.
Yep. They’re current mindset of banning things, cancelling things, racism and wasting money are not where their values are supposed to be at. Their desperation for votes has made them a party of fringe issues and they have deserted their base. That makes them unelectable for the foreseeable future, and also has consequences in terms of attracting talent which further compounds their problem.
Public appetite in 3-6 years I would predict will be more tempered after a long awaited dose of the reality that investments can fail and businesses and jobs can go belly up. Hopefully this brings people back together as communities, helping one another out and focusing on the basics in life that are the most important instead of the materialism that got boosted 2020 - 2023.
the simple truth is governments going back a long way have been taking big dividends out of transpower so they have not been investing enough in transmission to allow a greater load to be moved up from way down south to deal with the peak in the north, and to be fair the way forward has been building more supply in the top of the north island and the vector battery farms like they have at glen innes and up at marsden point to smooth out the peak periods.
Ruakākā Energy Park combines a 100-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS), currently under construction, and a proposed 120-megawatt solar farm located near Marsden Point in Whangārei.
all this jumping up and down by SB is just smoke and mirror stuff to justify oil exploration, as for GAS that is a simple fix they could change the law to allow imports and we could buy it in cheaper from offshore
Banks going under weekly? You wouldn't read about it. Maybe Sternlicht is being a bit dramatic. Water cooler consensus is that it couldn't happen.
Barry Sternlicht, cofounder, chairman, and CEO of the $115 billion real estate giant Starwood Capital Group, is worried about the more than 4,000 regional and community banks in the U.S. With the real estate industry struggling against higher interest rates, vacancies, and inflation, its lenders of choice may be in for some pain, according to the billionaire investor.
“I think people are looking for these cracks and you’re going to see the cracks develop now. You’re going to see a regional bank fail every day, or not—every week, maybe two a week,” he told CNBC Tuesday.
https://fortune.com/2024/05/08/billionaire-real-estate-investor-barry-s…
Can't help thinking pull all the old crap down and rebuild. Just look at the Chateau at Whakapapa, costs the NZ tax payer 2M per year to supposedly maintain. In fact it is still deteriorating, what a waste of money. Just pull it down and let a private investor build a nice new hotel.
Talk about bring in tourists Trev, as Fred Dagg would have said. Unfortunately there are country folk who hate change without realizing change is constant or should be, to keep us evolving.
Buy high sell low - it's the Kiwi way. I am shopping for NZ stocks again, portfolio is up 5% for the calendar year but all the heavy lifting is from the ASX and the TSK buyout (classic NZ tech business that struggled in NZ, decamps to the ASX frustrated at lack of NZ support, and most of the profit accrues over the ditch)
"When in doubt - Zoom out" - NZ had an amazing bull run between 2009 and 2021, it's no surprise the line doesn't always go up. Historically the NZX is one of the better performing indexes globally, and in my opinion worth a minor portion of a well diversified stock portfolio if you're based in NZ for the lack of FIF tax alone (I personally have around 15% NZX, 85% rest of the world). If you want an example of a really dismal index performance check out the FTSE 100...
https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/350271723/school-lunch-provider-…
Hitting the little guys and SMEs, centralising power into big government agency, profits for big business, worse wastage and worse nutrition. But it's OK because it will not be woke food. What's not to love?
In the 60s it was marmite and lettuce rolls, doughnuts, meat pies and something else I can't remember. All we had to do was bring some money to pay for it. Oh, that's right milk was free, plain or flavoured probably with sugar and color.
Thing is, many are happy to send the kids to take aways with cash but not to school?
I am not against free food at schools but there is such a thing as parent responsibility while the children are young.
centralising power into big government agency
It's called discounts on bulk purchases to fetch more value for taxpayer money. Big business will also hire hundreds of workers to prepare, package and deliver fresh food for the programme, so not a major net job loss for the community.
By woke food he means expensive items that don't necessarily have much nutritional value for kiddos but are costing a bit more per meal like quinoa and sushi.
Woke food = getting ripped off for whatever food it is by the agency providing it. Food aside, this was a concept the previous govt seemed great at, such as paying 15k finders fees to recruitment agencies for finding the right candidate for an 85k /yr job, more if it was for a 100k/yr role and upwards. Can verify this for several friends and colleagues who changed jobs 2020 - 2022 and some who were working in said recruitment agencies and creeeeeaming the commissions from this. And we wonder why the govt money taps are being turned off now? The NACT folk must have looked into this upon being voted in and been floored at the lack of negotiation and financial acumen.
Mad Albo laying a path of destruction. Forget about the floods of cheap migrant labor for a minute, he's now sending shivers up the spines of the cashed-up boomers.
From The Australian
A week or two after the upcoming 2024 Budget, the Albanese government will provide the details of a tax far more damaging to the nation than anything likely to be announced in the Budget.
The tax on unrealised capital gains on unindexed superannuation balances over $3m starts on July 1, 2025. It is going to have implications far beyond anything envisaged when it was announced.
The current participants in the venture capital market raise high risk money from a variety of sources, but one of the largest is big self-managed superannuation funds.
But, if the government is returned at the 2025 election, the proposed taxing of unrealised capital gains on superannuation balances above $3m will begin on July 1 2025
That tax is clearly unfair and goes against all principles of Australian and global taxation. But, when applied to unlisted venture capital investments it is a disaster.
Probably. The FIF was one of those Key slight of hand. Since the majority of Kiwis only know about residential property investment its easy to slip a tax like that in and they wouldn't notice. Don't know what the tax take is but it wouldn't surprise me if its at least 10% of total tax revenue.
that video yesterday someone posted up top was so true, The USA is stealing from youth to pay those already rich at the top, same here......
much as I hate to say it, why should I get super if I have a net worth of say 5 mil+?
even though I have damn well paid my share of tax
I think original comment related to Australia’s compulsory super scheme where workers and employers are required to contribute, not a state pension which seems to be paid by government for being simply being old. I totally agree that govt pension should be means tested so that it only goes to those who need it, while providing some incentive for people to save through their working lives. As you say, why should someone worth say 5m get a couple of hundred bucks a week govt handout? The original idea of social security system was a safety net, not a travel fund
W-w-w-w-well they'll tell you it's because someone worth $5m has paid a shit tonne of taxes throughout their lives (while ignoring that the amount of tax one pays is usually correlated to how much income they receive, and how much income one receives is not always correlated with work or effort).
You see, it's not a benefit or a safety net, it's a loyalty scheme. Those who pay the most tax over their lives are most deserving.
Must be really hard having over 5m net worth and living off of interest in the latter years. It must be hard to accept that after having the most resource-intensive lives to gain a standard of living not yet seen prior, to have to share some of the hoarded wealth to ensure the country still functions, as a direct result of the assumption that your kids generation will be sufficient to pay your pension. That aside, taxing unrealised gains is like trying to tax the wind based on speed which fluctuates by the second gust to gust. Impractical and an administrative nightmare.
The Japanese Yen Is Failing (what this means for the world)
Japan's government conducted three (unconfirmed) major currency interventions in less than a week. Already JPY is falling almost like they never happened. It's the dollar that's the matter because what's the matter isn't just Japan and like a lot of things energy is the key. As the Japanese understand all too well, energy means dollars.
U.S. House Votes to Erase SEC Crypto Policy While Biden Vows Veto
Essentially what this means is that the Biden admin is trying to prevent banks from holding digital assets. The anti-crypto agenda goes all the way to the top with Biden and Pocahontas Warren leading the charge. However, 20 Democrats voted with the Republicans.
Trump took the initiative straight away. Even the pro-Hamas camps seems to despise Biden now.
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/08/house-poised-to-vote-on-eras…
Maybe true in theory, but I think the reality is you would just have an enormous expensive hole in the ground that contributes nothing. It would get built, they would find the modelling was wrong, and the economics of the whole thing were not right. Probably why it’s been cancelled.
No doubt we will do the usual Kiwi thing of coming up with a much more expensive solution in a decade or two, and wishing like hell we'd had the vision to invest when the idea was first floated.
Unless we get saved by dramatic battery improvements (last time I calculated, they needed to get 1000 times cheaper to be comparable to Onslow, not accounting for the drastically different lifetimes).
Don’t be fooled by current power charges, they won’t last. The unavoidable investment needed to increase capacity, distribution and resilience will need to be paid for…. Any doubts just check out South Africa as an example of what happens when electrical infra is neglected too long
Shane Jones waxing lyrical on resources and energy.
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