Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.
TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today. All eyes are now on tomorrow's RBNZ OCR announcement.
TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
The Public Trust has stopped offering term deposits to the public. This is not a surprise. Over the past few years their offers were right at the bottom of the market. (The stopped offering mortgages a few years ago.)
SELL-DOWN AND BUILD UP
Today the Government detailed wider social housing reforms, including selling up to 2,000 state houses in the coming year and more social housing subsidies to cost an extra NZ$40 mln a year.
AUSSIE INFLATION NOT DEAD
Australian inflation came in slightly less than the +1.8% expected. Their CPI increased 0.2% in the December quarter and rose +1.7% through the year. The AUD rose on the release mainly because some of the technical sub-indexes the regulators look through to came in higher than expected (and making an RBA cut less likely). Remember, our CPI rose +0.8% on an annual basis to December. Australia has had a falling currency longer than us.
MISSION ZERO
"But there’s something smarter than a zero interest balance transfer and that’s a zero balance on your credit card. Getting rid of your credit card debt and never paying credit card interest again is one of the best financial moves you can make." That is a quote from BNZ, trying to 'be good with money'. They have launched a program to help customers reduce the amount New Zealanders pay in credit card interest. BNZ's competitors may not appreciate the implications and fresh approach.
NZ SUPER FUND RETURNS ALMOST 14%
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund returned 13.89% in 2014, finishing the year valued at $27.11 billion. CEO Adrian Orr said a heavy weighting to global equities and a fall in the New Zealand dollar helped boost returns. However, this year and beyond Orr expects "more muted returns," with long-term average returns of 8% to 9% per year.
STAY TUNED
Tomorrow morning will be worth checking in here. What the US Fed has to say (at about 8am) may have a bog impact on our interest rates and our exchange rate. Then at 9am the RBNZ will issue a brief statement reviewing the OCR. Bernard Hickey will assess what that means and review the reactions.
WHOLESALE RATES RISE
The local swap rates rose another +3 bps across the curve today making back the rest of Monday's falls. The 90 day bank bill rate is up too at 3.67%.
NZ DOLLAR LOWER AGAIN
Check our real-time charts here. The NZ dollar was unchanged today. It is now at 74.5 USc, at 93.3 AUc, and the TWI is now at 77.5.
You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.
Daily exchange rates
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5 Comments
Singapore MAS eases monetary policy (exchange rate) unexpectedly today.
Due to wanting to front foot deflationary effects globally and looking ahead, and looking outside their own country (unlike NZ which believes it is immune).
Cannot load link due to Interest unable to accept copy/paste.
um, this was interesting on rents,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11393120&…
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