A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; blackmail threat, 4.99% mortgage rate, big road investment, more leaky homes assistance

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Today's big change came from SBS Bank who have launched a surprisingly bold 4.99% fixed home loan rate for a five year term. This is significantly lower than any of their rivals and really stands apart. It is a 'special' offer so terms and conditions apply. Also, Heretaunga Building Society dropped its 2 year fixed rate to 5.40%, a cut of -40 bps.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Quietly, under the cover of the mortgage rate change which they made a big deal about (and it is a big deal), SBS Bank reduced its 6 month term deposit rate to 4.15%, down -10 bps.

BLACKMAIL THREAT
There is a major story breaking affecting Fonterra and Tatua which will be announced at 4pm. It involves 1080 poison and infant formula and a blackmailer. It has seen the NZD fall sharply.

REPLACING CASH
The shift from using cash to electronic cards continues and we are using them for smaller and smaller transactions. Core electronic card spending rose a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in the three months to February - the fastest growth rate since the December quarter of 2013. Consumable and hospitality spending continued to drive spending growth over the period, but were also boosted by moderate growth in durable spending and a surprise lift in apparel spending. 

HAMILTON GETS CLOSER TO AUCKLAND
Work on the remaining three sections of the Waikato Expressway is set to get underway this year, following approval by the NZTA Board to spend more than $1 bln on the construction of the Hamilton and Longswamp sections of this major road. With this latest commitment, the whole project will be completed in 2019. This road has been a major source of traffic fatalities over the years and the upgrades have already saved many lives. And in somewhat related news, high pressure sodium street lighting is set to be replaced by cheaper LED street lighting. The Government is stumping up about $100 mln for the transition. It should result in 50% savings for energy and 70% savings for maintenance.

MORE LEAKY HOME ASSISTANCE
The Government today announced that it is amending the law to loosen up the legal requirements for making a leaky homes claim.

DOWN, BUT UP
Used import car sales in February were a lot lower than for each of the previous 10 months, but they were still +15% higher than the same month a year ago.

WHOLESALE RATES SETTLE
Today, local wholesale interest rates slipped -2 bps across the curve. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +1 bp to 3.64%.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDS, BUT ...
Check our real-time charts here. The kiwi dollar has held its level today. It is was at 73.3 USc, up to 95.7 AUc, and the TWI at 78.3. But since the announcement of the 1080 blackmail threat, the currency has fallen.

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