A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; Trade deficit wider than expected, home loan approval growth softens, finance companies refund $1.5m

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
There were no changes today.

TRADE DEFICIT WIDER THAN EXPECTED
New Zealand recorded a $433 million trade deficit in July, Statistics NZ says, which was wider than the $325 million deficit expected by economists. For the year ended July 2016 there was an annual trade deficit of $3.0 billion versus $3.3 billion for the June year. BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said with the current account deficit having already reduced to 3% of GDP, BNZ thinks it's heading towards 2% over the coming year or so, well below the 4% average over the past 20 years.

HOME LOAN APPROVAL GROWTH SOFTENS
The latest weekly Reserve Bank housing loan approval figures show week-on-week increases both in terms of volume and value at 6,141 and $1.28 billion. However the figures for the week to August 19 show the slowest year-on-year volume growth since late January at 6.7%. And the 14.7% year-on-year value growth was the lowest in a year. The average loan size was just over $208,000.

FINANCE COMPANIES REFUND CUSTOMERS TO THE TUNE OF $1.5M
The Commerce Commission says Adelphi Finance Ltd and Shaw Personal Finance Ltd have voluntarily refunded customers or reduced customer account balances by more than $1.4 million and $100,000, respectively, after the consumer watchdog warned they were likely to have breached consumer credit laws. The two lenders' consumer credit contracts were unlikely to comply with the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act because they didn't include all of the required key information, the Commission said. This included not providing borrowers with: the lender’s registration number as a financial service provider, a full description and explanation of the security interests taken (if any), and details about the timing of the borrower’s right to cancel and the borrower’s right to apply for relief on grounds of unforeseen hardship. 

BRIDGES NAMES ELECTRIC VEHICLES LEADERSHIP GROUP
Transport Minister Simon Bridges has named a 10-member Electric Vehicles (EVs) leadership group as part of the Government's push to accelerate the uptake of EVs. Through its EV Programme, the Government aims to double the number of EVs on NZ roads annually to reach 64,000 by 2021. Bridges says the leadership group will champion this programme. Members are Secretary for Transport Peter Mersi (chairman), CEO of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Mike Underhill, executive director of the Sustainable Business Council Abbie Reynolds, CEO of Mercury Fraser Whineray, independent director Mark Gilbert, Westpac director of asset finance Gary Nalder, CEO of the Motor Industry Association David Crawford, Vector CEO Simon Mackenzie, AA general manager of motoring affairs Mike Noon, and CEO of the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association David Vinsen.

AUCKLAND AIRPORT WELCOMES NEW FLIGHTS FROM CHINESE AIRLINE
Auckland Airport is welcoming an announcement from Tianjin Airlines saying it'll start flying to Auckland from December this year. The airline will operate year round between Tianjin, Chongqing in China and Auckland three times a week using an A330 aircraft. Auckland Airport estimates Tianjin Airlines’ service will add 83,000 seats to the China to Auckland route every year and will provide a $102 million boost to the New Zealand tourism industry. 

NORTH KOREA TESTS MISSILE
North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile that flew about 500 km toward Japan, Reuters reports, in a show of improving technological capability for the isolated country that has conducted a series of launches in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

INTEREST RATE MARKETS EYE JACKSON HOLE
Interest rate markets are focused on the central bank economic symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming that gets underway later this week. NZ swap and bond yields have traded lower on the back of a decline in overseas yields, although the worse than expected monthly trade balance number appears to have capped some of the buying.

The tender of Local Government Finance Authority (LGFA) bonds was well supported overall with the average weighted yield across the three maturities a fraction under 3%. It was noticeable that only a small number of bids were accepted and this in part was due to the size of the issues - a total of $90 million was on offer over three maturities. Still, an average weighted yield of 3% is well above what equivalent government bonds are offering and would be appearing quite attractive for those investors seeking high degrees of capital security. 

The NZ Debt Management Office announced the launch of an April 15, 2037 nominal bond, and cancelled the bond tender scheduled for August 25 (Thursday). NZ swap rates are here. The 90-day bank bill rate is unchanged at 2.23%.

NZ DOLLAR SEESAW TRADING
The trade balance, with a deficit of $433 million, was worse than market expectations and the NZ dollar was sold off quickly. Order was restored later in the day, and the NZ dollar rose from below US72.7 cents to above US72.9c. The release of Australian data (skilled vacancies and building work completed) this afternoon, drove the NZ dollar lower. It was last at AU95.7c versus AU95.8c this morning. The Trade Weighted Index (TWI) is at 75.7, slightly below 75.8 this morning. Check our real-time charts here.

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