Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report today, other than the SBS move noted below. All rates are here. And note, you can compare mortgage offers with our new calculator that takes into account other costs and cashback incentives, here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
There are no changes to report today here either. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

SALES VOLUMES DIP, PRICES HOLD, LISTING RISE
Barfoot & Thompson’s sales volumes dipped in October with price signals mixed. Auckland’s largest realtor reported that their stock levels were the highest for the month of October since 2008 suggesting the buyer’s market may persist over summer.

BROKER HOME LOAN ‘SPECIALS’
SBS Bank has confirmed “that we have notified our adviser partners that we are currently offering a 3.99% p.a. rate for new lending fixed for either 1 or 2 year terms, with a minimum of 20% equity.” If SBS pay brokerage of 80 bps (see ComCom personal banking report), that means they are netting just 3.19% for these transactions.

DARK CLOUDS LIFTING?
Credit bureau Centrix says there are ‘cautiously optimistic’ signs of a recovery, with improvement in credit demand, arrears, and business defaults.

NEW CARS POPULAR, USED IMPORTS FADE
There were more than 10,700 new cars sold in October, +12.6% more than in the same month in 2024. Of these only 506 were EVs, but 5900+ were NEVs. Overall new car sales are back to the pandemic surge, and prior to that the best since 2018. But they were dominated by more than 4600 sales to rental car companies this month. Used imports continued to wane in October, with 7014 sold in the month -4.2% less than a year ago and the lowest October since 2012.

PORRIDGE FOR FRAUDSTER
An Auckland man, Hun Min Im, who attempted to fraudulently claim more than $2 million through various Covid-19 government support schemes has today been sentenced to four years and 4½ months imprisonment for his role in orchestrating a large-scale fraud targeting the Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS), the Small Business Cashflow Scheme, COVID-19 Support Payments and Resurgence Support Payments.

NZX50 FIRMS
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is now up +0.4% so far on Tuesday. That puts it +1.5% higher over the past five working days. It is up +4.1% year-to-date. From a year ago it is now up +8.1%. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare has recovered +1.2% so far today. Heartland, Fletcher, Vital Healthcare and Air New Zealand advance, while Spark, Kathmandu, Freightways and Mainfreight decline.

CORPORATE SWEETENER BENEFITS FIRST, CONVENTION CENTER LAST
After more than ten years, a major fire, lawsuits, and sundry other delays that doubled the original build budget,, the New Zealand International Convention Center is now close to opening. It will be owned by casino operator SkyCity Entertainment. John Key induced them to develop it by giving them additional pokie licenses – which they have had for the decade despite there being no convention center.

PUBLIC TRUST RESULTS
The Government-owned Public Trust has released its 2024/2025 full year financial results, reporting net profit before tax of $6.5 mln (down from $7.1 mln last year) on revenue of $85.6 mln (+3%). It is paying a dividend (“capital distribution” of $2.25 mln of to the Crown. Public Trust controls $1.5 bln in investment funds under management and its Corporate Trustee Services consolidated funds of $129 bln under supervision as at 30 June 2025; $57.9 billion of which is KiwiSaver.

SWAP RATES LITTLE-CHANGED
Wholesale swap rates probably steepened a bit more today but will be little-changed at the 1 year end. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The 90 day bank bill rate was unchanged on Monday to 2.52%. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is up +2 bps at 4.36%. The China 10 year bond rate is down -1 bp at 1.74%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 4.13%. The RBNZ data is now all delayed with Monday’s end of month rate is up +3 bps to 4.09%. The UST 10yr yield is up +1 bp at 4.11%.

EQUITIES MIXED AGAIN
The local equity market is now up +0.4% in Tuesday trade so far. However, the ASX200 is down -0.8% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is up +0.2%. Hong Kong is up +0.1% at its open. Shanghai is down -0.1% to start their Tuesday trade. Singapore is down -0.2% at its open. Wall Street started its Monday trade upbeat but faded sharply after the ISM PMIs were released and the S&P500 ended up less than +0.2%.

OIL SOFTISH
The oil price in the US is little-changed, still at just over US$61/bbl and the international Brent price is now just under US$65/bbl.

CARBON PRICE DIPS AGAIN
There have been few trades today but those have prices down at $52/NZU and its lowest since May. The next official carbon auction is on December 3, 2025 and likely heading for another failure. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD SOFTER
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$10 from yesterday, now at US$3986/oz.

NZD FALLS
The Kiwi dollar is down -30 bps from yesterday at this time at just over 56.9 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -30 bps at 87.1 AUc. Against the euro we are also down -10 bps at 49.5 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is down -20 bps at 61.6.

BITCOIN SOFTER AGAIN
The bitcoin price is now at US$106,968 and down -2.4% from this time yesterday. Volatility has been modest at just over +/- 1.9%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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