Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).
MORTGAGE/LOAN RATE CHANGES
Kookmin Bank has cut its home loan rates. All rates are here.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
Kookmin Bank has trimmed its TD rates. All updated rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here. Update: Westpac has raised its 5 month rate by +30 bps to 5.70%.
MORE BUY WITH SMALL DEPOSIT
There has been a big jump in the proportion of first home buyers taking out low equity loans. Almost 40% of first home buyers in August had a low equity loan.
LESS AIR POLLUTION
StatsNZ reported today that concentrations of air pollutants decreased at many air quality monitoring sites between 2016 and 2023. “PM10 trends decreased at 30 out of 41 local government monitoring sites, while trends for PM2.5 decreased at 12 out of 16 sites. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) trends decreased at 99 out of 114 Waka Kotahi monitoring sites between 2014 and 2023.” PM10 and PM2.5 are particles that can be suspended in the air and are less than 10 micrometres and 2.5 micrometres in diameter, respectively. They are primarily formed by residential wood burning, dust from unsealed roads, and industrial and construction activities. NO2 is a gas primarily formed through burning fossil fuels.
INFLATION IS STILL AROUND
Infratil-owned One.NZ said it is increasing its mobile roaming charges by +12.5% from October 24, 2024. Because ... they can.
NZX EQUITY MARKET UPDATE
Check out our quick update of how the NZX is faring today, as at 3pm. Kiwi Property, Ryman & Contact all rise today; Oceania, Serko & FBU slumps continue.
STILL POPULAR
More than $1 bln was bid for the $500 mln available in the three NZGB tenders today. There were 109 bids and 58 won something. Yields were in fact little-changed from a similar even two weeks ago, maybe slightly higher.
THE COST OF HAVING NO MONEY CAN BE HIGH
New analysis by the Retirement Commission shows that for about a quarter of older households who have low retirement income and savings, but high levels of equity in their home, equity release products could be more beneficial for them to use instead of high-cost personal loans or credit cards. Equity release mortgages cost about 10.5% plus the fees for setting them up. But they have no repayment requirements until you leave the property. Personal loans require a regular income and can cost about 14% from a bank. Credit cards can build balances due fast if you make only the minimum payments and can cost between 10% (TSB, Kiwibank) and 28% pa (GEM Visa).
HELP FOR FARMERS TO CONTINUE
The Government has pulled its funding of the Farm Business Advice Support Fund. It was a joint initiative involving ASB, ANZ, BNZ, Heartland Bank, Rabobank, SBS Bank, TSB and Westpac. It is a service delivered by the Rural Support Trusts. But now ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac have resolved to fund the whole thing.
SKILLS MISMATCH
Aussie job vacancies continue to fall. There were 330,000 job vacancies in August, down by 18,000 from May, and well down from the peak of 473,000 in May 2022. Their labour market stats shows there were 623,200 unemployed people in the same month, of which 418,500 were supposedly looking for full-time work.
SWAP RATE CURVE STEEPENs
Wholesale swap rates are probably lower today at the short end, up at the long end. Our chart below will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is -2 bps lower at 4.90%. That is its lowest level in ten months. The Australian 10 year bond yield is up +5 bps to 3.99%. The China 10 year bond rate is down -2 bps at 2.05%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +4 bps at 4.29% and the earlier RBNZ fix was at 4.23% and up +6 bps from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is up +5 bps at 3.79%. Their 2yr is now at 3.56%, so that curve is still positive, now by +23 bps.
EQUITIES BOOSTED
The NZX50 is up a sharp +1.2% in its late Wednesday trade. The ASX200 is up +0.7% in afternoon trade. However Tokyo is up +2.5%. Hong Kong is up another +1.7% at its open while Shanghai is up +0.6%. Singapore is also up +0.6% at its open. Wall Street slipped in Wednesday trade with the S&P500 ending down -0.2%.
OIL DROPS
The oil price is down -US$1.50 from this time yesterday at just under US$70/bbl in the US, and now just over US$73.50/bbl for the international Brent price.
CARBON PRICE HOLDS
The carbon price has changed little today, still at $61.20/NZU. Volumes traded are still light. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.
GOLD HOLDS HIGH
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$9 from this time yesterday at US$2657/oz and off its high.
NZD SHIFTS LOWER
The Kiwi dollar has retreated, down -¾c from this time yesterday to 62.7 USc. Against the Aussie we have fallen -40 bps to 91.6 AUc. And against the euro we down -30 bps at 56.3 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now at 70.1 and down -60 bps from this time yesterday.
BITCOIN RETREATS
The bitcoin price is down -1.9% from this time yesterday, now at US$63,296. Volatility of the past 24 hours has remained modest at just on +/- 1.4%.
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94 Comments
Good to see some well overdue difficult problems finally being confronted:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/529112/niwa-to-take-over-metservic…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/529094/government-signals-downgrade…
But you can apparently...but let me guess the privatisation of hospital services will be brought up shortly..(just run them down a bit more and hey presto).
Labour’s fully costed project had the budget allocated to pay for it, was bigger, and had additional capacity for mental health and MRI facilities, she said.
“National are potentially content with simply giving the old building a makeover.”
Yes, can confirm this as a teacher. Schools have to be open for instruction X number of half days per year and teacher only days are not part of this. Ironically the reason there have been more happening recently is because MoE mandated 3 or 4 per year as part of all the curriculum changes around NCEA.
If I am honest, I've never attended a ToD that was not a total waste of time, and I won't miss them the slightest. They tend to involve either very high level and broad presentations (AI in education, etc) that are not applicable to your daily practice, or poorly directed department meetings (think brainstorming...). There is usually a fairly generous time set aside for lunch and morning tea, then a 3:15 finish (and around 15 min of karakias).
Link to your "fully costed" quote?
Meanwhile:
"To make matters worse, insufficient money had been set aside for other associated costs such as a pathology lab, refurbishment of the existing facilities and car parking which are collectively estimated at an additional $400 million. No business cases have been prepared for any of these additional elements of the project."
Not a cut. Baywatch. But a limitation on outlandish cost explosion. Still going to spend 1.88 Billion.
As a local I personally know several people making megabucks for several years now from this fiasco.
Blame the committee led by Pete Hodgson. They started the project without an idea of how to finish it.
Not even s clear build plan.
"...a quarter of older households who have low retirement income and savings, but high levels of equity in their home..."
So why don't we have a system like the Aussies do? Forget the commercial lenders and their high rates and just Top Up our current Superannuation Payments if required.
"The Home Equity Access Scheme is a voluntary non-taxable loan from the Australian Government. If you own property, the Scheme allows you to use the equity in your home by borrowing against the value of your property. You receive that loan as a fortnightly income stream, a lump sum or a combination or both. You can choose how much you receive each fortnight ..."
https://www.australiansuper.com/retirement/retirement-articles/2022/01/…
Much better we all toddle down to Heartland and pay 10.5% I guess. Reading between the lines of the other article on here re bank capital ratios, our Government has an implied guarantee for them if they hit the rocks.
Somewhere along the line, OUR Government is supposed to look after those who need assistance. And if it's good enough to allow FHBer to access their retirement savings, then surely it's good enough to help Last Home Owners who need to access their home equity at the other end. And the most cost effective way to do that is the way the Australians do.
Another town about to be decimated as a result of the fallout of past Labour Govt's energy policies.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350430278/alliances-smithfield-employee…
past Labour Govt's energy policies.? Whatever
He said a collapse in the global red meat markets, reduced revenue of about $2 billion, and the $97.9m loss had brought urgent changes for the company.
In September 2022, Alliance was fined $57,000 for causing “serious harm to an environment of high value and vulnerable sensitivity” near Caroline Bay.
It is also facing four charges that allege the discharge of contaminants into a nearby creek and the Pacific Ocean north of Caroline Bay.
Environment Canterbury laid the charges against the company’s Smithfield plant following incidents related to ruptures in the same pipeline reported on December 7, 2021, and March 16, 2022.
Started in 1999.
Electricity sector privatisation is destroying manufacturing industry
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/08/23/electricity-sector-privatisation-is-d…
They argued that in the decade since those privatisations, the gentailers – Meridian, Mercury, Genesis and Contact (fully privatised in 1999) – paid out $10.8 billion in dividends to shareholders, while total generating capacity increased by one measly percent.
started by max bradford and sold to the public as competition amongst them would bring and keep electricity prices down, and what happened instead they focused on return for the shareholders (disclaimer i hold shares in every one of them) so they didn't rush new generation into the mix , also if you look at amount of consumption over that period as more efficient appliances etc have come on the increase has not been that great.
the gas thing is a smoke screen , 60% of all the gas produced in NZ is exported by a Canadian company that brought out all the oil companies that stopped looking years ago as no new commercial find has been found in 20 years and a lot of the really big world players pulled out of NZ years ago
Shell pulls out of search for NZ oil, gas - NZ Herald
New Zealand: residential electricity consumption 2023 | Statista
yep just had a couple of months in SA -- using e sims instead less than half the roaming cost for plenty of data - in Germany now for 5 days -- and hmmm $8 a day -- got 30GB e sim for a month for that they are simply savvy pricing travellers out of the market - will only keep casual short 1 week holiday makers -- once you start using he esims -- you don't go back to One and Roaming!
Well, actually I have gone the other way around. I used to buy local SIM cards for about 20 Euros for 30 gb + minutes. But then I had to change my SIM card back to the NZ one to check missed calls and texts. Now I can't be bothered, I just pay the $8/day and get calls and text immediately and I can answer the phone.
Kids can learn a lot from holidays. I don’t think kids being on the odd holiday are the problem, it’s the parents that can’t be bothered taking them to school. I think we had one down the road, kids seemed to be home every day
I give the coalition credit where due, and it feels like a lot of the crime and truancy has disappeared since the election. Maybe Labour kicked it off, hard to know.
Having had kids recently go through one of the most progressive high schools in the country and having taken them on extended holidays through Vietnam, Australia and a cruise through Pacific which included school time, I'm quite happy with their schooling. Their extended group of peers and career status and options are a testament to this. Mind your own business because we don't care what you or Seymour or the government thinks. However, don't take my word for it - listen to the feedback from Principals - this govt. is outrageously out of touch and if it wasn't so clumsy, I would be worried there is a fundamentalist agenda behind it.
seymour is coming across as so nanny state, you will do this and that i thought he led a party that was into the individual knows best not the state.
it seems that only applies when he sees fit otherwise, he will make up some woke rule,
if parents want to take kids on a holiday to gain new experience or culture knowledge outside of school it is on them to make sure they catch up on their schooling not the state
KW - who are you to decide other's priorities?
I took mine sailing for a year. Did more for them as human beings, and more for us as a family, than any other year we had together.
Oh, but we didn't work non-stop or consume flat-out.
Sorry, forgot about that.
Put another way; Seymour wants bricks in the wall. Some folk are of different shape....
Look at the incessant output of KKNZ.
I don't think they're that smart.
Their predecessors were less on the wrong track - but miles away from being on the one we need to take (real sustainability).
The fundy comment applies, though, and Simeon Brown is the type they sent overseas as missionaries; dogmatic, focused... and totally wrong.
And I think the S will HTF, before this term is through. They'll look like stunned mullets. Oh oh, too late...
Paul Pelosi unloaded shares of VISA less than 90 days before DOJ filed an Anti-Trust Action against the company.
Just so happens VISA stock price dropped 5.5%.
My woke mates say nothing to see here. Pelosi is just a smart stock trader.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/nancy-pelosis-husband-sold-more-th…
Artisan food companies falling like dominoes in Aussie. And these are relatively big players.
A major Australian food supplier, which had been operating for 34 years, has collapsed.
The companies trading as The Essential Ingredient, which was one of Australia’s most recognised speciality food brands, entered into voluntary administration on Thursday.
It comes just three days after South Australian dairy company Beston Global Food Company, which employs 160 people, went under.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/another-major-australia…
‘In less than 4 years, inflation-adjusted US government spending now exceeds the combined spending of:
- World War I
- World War II
- 1970 to 1990
This is very concerning for the long-term health of the economy’
https://x.com/gameoftrades_/status/1839003729317736952?s=46&t=MUwQeKa7M…
I've pointed this out before. Like it took all off US history to rack up USD1 trillion in debt in 1981.
This year interest payments hit USD1 trillion.
Now debt increases by $1 trillion approx every 100 days.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/12/interest-payments-on-the-national-debt-…
Auckland property developer and investor Du Val Group owes close to $240 million to creditors and investors, as its statutory managers reveal the extent of its financial obligations.
$240 million here, $240 million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
just shows how weak our FMA really are to even let it to get this far, and only because he tried to float to put a chunk in his pocket and run away .
he already did this before on a smaller scale years ago this time he just made a bigger mess
this isn’t Kenyon Clarke’s first rodeo. He was declared bankrupt in 2009 after companies that built studio apartments in Hamilton, under the control of Kenyon and his mother Jenepher, were placed in receivership, owing an estimated $50m.
Infratil-owned One.NZ said it is increasing its mobile roaming charges by +12.5% from October 24, 2024. Because ... they can
Yes from $8/day to $9/day. It started out at $5/day. I'm currently in Europe, and I gladly pay $9/day for the privilege of using my phone including data, just the same as if I was in NZ. (I hope no "One NZ" reads this post though)
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