What happened today
Here are the important things you need to know before leaving work today.
change in mortgage rate
We have been informed that HSBC, TSB and China Construction Bank have all increased fixed home loan rates and some of these increases are sharp over the longer term.
Change in Fixed Deposit Rate
ASB has substantially increased fixed deposit rates across the board. Worth noting is that their new three-year offer is 3.50%, which is the highest for that period of any major bank. Only China Construction Bank has a higher 3.60%. But for conditions where most of the savers want to be, the new ASB rates are not remarkable.
Matter of concern
March retail sales figures are worryingly weak. Amount entered using card payment not only -1.2% less Compared to the same month a year ago for “core retail”, inflation may have increased in the same period [much] Last December’s stats up from 5.9% in the NZ survey. We will get CPI data for the March quarter just after the Easter holiday and it is no surprise that it is close to +8%. That’s certainly an estimate, but it’s almost certainly going to be higher than that December level. In that context, being down -1.2% in terms of original retail selling price points to worryingly weak retail volumes. (If it were not for petrol inflation, overall March figures would have been negative.)
‘Green’ TD?
There is an interesting launch in Australia by MUFG Bank, a huge Japanese bank that also has a branch. They have launched an ESG fixed deposit set. Their ‘green deposits’ allow customers to make fixed deposits with the bank, which in turn can be used to fund eligible green loans for projects such as clean transportation, green buildings, energy efficiency and sustainable water/waste water management projects. are done. A major target is corporate fixed deposits.
Krone joins ASB board with Kingie in the Future of Directors program
ASB says former Auckland mayoral candidate Victoria Krone has joined the board effective Tuesday. Additionally ASB says it will host Merewakana Kingi as an observer on its board under the Future Directors Program of Directors. ASB Notes Krone has executive leadership experience in the telecommunications, fintech and innovation industries. Kingi has worked in the corporate and Māori sectors for financial services and corporate organizations, is a Chartered Accountant and a former NZ Women’s and Touch Rugby representative. ASB also says that Robin Worthington, its acting general manager, is leaving to return to Australia. However, she will remain so until a decision is made on her replacement.
EX-ANZ EXECUTIVE JOBS AMPLIFI
Former ANZ executive Fred Ohlsson is joining Amplifi Group as Managing Director. Amplifi is a joint venture between Mint Asset Management and Auckland-based private equity firm, Acentro Capital Partners. Amplifi plans to acquire “a suite of high quality NZ financial services businesses in the advisory and asset management sectors”. Amplifi was launched in November 2021, and 70% of it is owned by Mint Asset Management and 30% by Ascentro.
up and down, but net down
The NZX50 capitalization fell -0.4% last week. In addition to the confusion of AirNZ rights, Pushpay (PPH#29) -5.2% and F&P Healthcare (FPH, #1) was down -2.5%. Going to the other side, Circo (Shoes#42) was up about +7.0%, and Spark (spk#3) went up 5.2%.
Low inflation points to weakness
China is apparently getting slightly higher inflation now. their official data Lets say there was a +1.5% increase in overall prices till March but with no change from February what we are seeing is the base effect which is pushing up the annual number. Food prices are rising as part of that (+2.0% year-on-year), but beef (0.0%) and lamb (-4.6%) prices are not part of it. Milk prices are rising slightly (+0.4%). ease of high producer price inflation Happened in March, but not as much as was expected. It is now trading at +8.3% year-on-year.
soft gold
In early Asian trade, gold is down – US$3 from where we opened this morning at just US$1944/oz.
Most of the fall in shares
The NZX50 is down another -0.6% at Monday’s close. The ASX200 is up a modest +0.1%. Tokyo started the week with a fall of -0.4%. Hong Kong has a sharp drop of -2.2% as they fear what Beijing’s new rules will do to them. As their pandemic situation escalates, Shanghai has opened down -1.2%. S&P500 futures suggest WAll Street will open lower by -0.4%.
swap edge again
we don’t have today close swap rates yet. They are likely to strengthen slightly again from Friday, adding another +3 bps or more on top of last week’s big jump. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +2 bps at 1.70%. The Australian government’s ten-year benchmark bond rate is up +1 bp this morning, now at 3.00% and above 3% for the first time in eight years. The Chinese government has changed little at 10yr 2.81%. And the New Zealand government’s 10-year bond rate is +2 bps at 3.51% and 3.47% (another +2 bps) above the earlier RBNZ fix for that 10-year rate. Ten years of US government is now up 2.73% and +3 bps since this morning, rising again above Saturday’s high.
New Zealand dollar soft
The Kiwi Dollar is trading lower at 68.2 USC and -20 bps today. Against the Aussies we are a little low, now at 91.8 AUC. Against the EUR we are slightly changed at 62.6 EUR cents and down -40 bps. That means TWI-5 is now at 74, softer than -20 bps from where we opened this morning.
bitcoin low
Bitcoin from where we opened this morning is now at $42,176 and is down -2.1% in these eight hours. Volatility is modest at over +/- 1.9% over the last 24 hours
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