A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; trade surplus, high confidence in NZ but not China, no fx intervention, investors borrow up large, NZD rising

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There are no changes to report today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There are no changes for term deposits either.

TRADE BALANCE SURPRISE
Markets were expecting a $300 mln March trade surplus; they got a $432 mln surplus. Australia has leapfroged China and become NZ's No 1 export market. Exports to China have slipped as milk powder shipments soften, making Australia our top export market again for the first time in 17 months.

PLENTY OF TOP SPIN
ANZ's business confidence survey out today posted another high level, even if it was marginally lower than for March. ANZ said "business confidence and firms’ signals on the employment, investment and activity fronts are holding onto high levels, consistent with an economy entrenched in a robust and steady economic expansion. We continue to pencil in 3% growth over 2015. That’s still centre-court performance. Last month’s rebound in agricultural sentiment proved short-lived. Signals from the survey’s pricing gauges remain subdued, consistent with other yardsticks. If this is sustained, the OCR is likely to be headed lower."

THE LOCALS ARE WORRIED
The Westpac MNI China consumer sentiment survey out today shows that index at a very low level of 111.1 which is bumping along near its all-time lows. In context, it is quite a sharp drop in a month.

NO RESPONSE
The Reserve Bank did not intervene in currency markets in March, according to data released by them today. During March, the TWI-5 rose from 79.29 to 79.87, a +0.7% rise in the month.

HIGH COMMITMENTS, ESPECIALLY TO INVESTORS
According to the latest data, NZ banks are not increasing their lending to high LVR borrowers. In March only 4.8% of all new loans went to non-exempt transactions. That is the equal lowest level in ten months. The same data shows that $6.3 bln in new loan housing commitments were entered into in March, the highest level since the RBNZ started collecting this data in August 2013. Less than 5% of these new commitments went to first home buyers, but almost 20% went to 'investors' the highest proportion recorded in this new series - and they soaked up almost a third of the value committed.

BUREAUCRATS APPROVE BUREAUCRACY
The Auditor General has reviewed the Auckland Council building consent process and given a clean bill of health. And that is despite its 'customers' (builders) saying Auckland Council does not communicate well.

HEDGE FUND IN CONTROL AT MEDIAWORKS
TV3's parent MediaWorks says it's now majority owned by Oaktree Capital, a US hedge fund. Oaktree owns 77.8% of MediaWorks having recently bought shares from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Westpac. MediaWorks CEO Mark Weldon notes Oaktree's had a "very successful investment into Nine in Australia."

WHOLESALE RATES
Wholesale swap rates rose +1 bp for 7 and 10 year terms and inching back to levels we were at six weeks ago. All other terms were unchanged. The 90 day bank bill rate was also up +1 bp, to 3.64%, and that is its highest since the end of January 2015.

NZ DOLLAR INCHES HIGHER
The New Zealand dollar is trending slightly higher again. As of late this afternoon it is at 77 USc, 96.3 AUc, 70.2 euro cents, and the TWI is at 80.5. Check our real-time charts here.

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