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. All current mortgage 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
Xceda has raised rates, including now with a 4% rate for less than 1 year, and a 5% rate for 5 years. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

NO RENT INFLATION
Auckland’s largest rental agency says more properties are being rented in the Queen City but rents aren’t rising, and they are seeing some landlords not increasing rents to retain existing tenants.

EXPANDING WITH WORRYING SIGNALS
The BNZ/BusinessNZ factory PMI held in expansion in March, just slightly less than in February. But the detail shows a lot of this was driven by inventory expansion, as deliveries sank sharply from their average levels. New orders held up, but perhaps trying to lock in pre-inflated pricing that is sure to come.

DONE OUR QUIZ YET? NO? DO IT NOW
Our quiz has been updated for this week’s edition. You can do it here. And a new one will be added every Monday.

GOING AFTER ANOTHER 25 RELATED COMPANIES
The FMA says it is going to try and liquidate more of Bernard Whimp’s Chance Voight companies.

NZX50 FADES
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is down -0.6% so far today. Enthusiasm is leaking away as the session develops although it is still heading for a +2.6% weekly rise. but is down -2.3% from six months ago. From a year ago it is up a net +7.9%. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is down a sharpish -3.0% so far today. Tower, Port of Tauranga, Genesis and Stride lead the few gainers but Gentrack, Summerset, F&P Healthcare and Serko lead the main decliners.

UNDER PRESSURE
Livestock markets have remained oddly stable over the past few weeks, despite the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, especially from fertiliser, fuel and freight costs for farmers and processors alike. Lamb returns are reflecting lower schedule offers. But although beef returns got those last week, they didn’t this week. Essentially, good demand from the US underpins this part of the industry.

EXPECTED & UNEXPECTED REACTIONS
And it is probably worth noting that the day of record for the Fonterra capital return was yesterday, April 9. The public FCG share price fell sharply today to reflect that (down from $6.20/share to $4.12 now). But the farmer-shareholder FSF shares barely missed a beat (still at $8.40/share).

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THE AUSSIE LABOUR HIRE SECTOR
In Australia, they have just released some interesting data on the labour hire sector. Over there as at December 2025, 351,000 Aussies had a job in Labour supply services, and for 297,800 (85%) it was their main job. 2.3% of all employed people had a job in Labour supply services in December 2025. 68% of labour hire workers worked full-time (August 2024). 74% of them did not have paid leave entitlements, and 26% would prefer to work more hours (August 2024).

NO CHANGE
The Korean central bank kept its policy interest rate unchanged at 2.25%. They have an inflation date of 2.2% but expect this to rise in the current environment.

MODEST INFLATION
China said its CPI inflation rate was +1.0% in March from a year ago, a smaller rise than expected and lower than the February +1.3% rate (which was a three year high). Food prices only rose +0.3% year-on-year, restrained by pork and fresh vegetables. Beef prices were up +7.8% from a year ago, lamb prices up +6.8%. Dairy product prices fell -0.7% on the same basis.

FIRST NON-PANDEMIC PPI INFLATION IN 7 YEARS
China also released its producer price data today which shows them suddenly out of deflation, with PPI up +0.5% from a year ago in March, the first time since September 2022, and prior to the pandemic distortion, the first time since early 2019.

STILL MODEST
In Japan, they said their March PPI inflation ran at +2.6%, about average over the past twelve months, and off the unusually low February +2.1% level.

SWAP RATES STAY UP
Wholesale swap rates are likely to have held up after yesterday’s big jump, perhaps adding another +1 bp today. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +1 bp at 2.53% on Thursday. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is unchanged at 4.95%. The China 10 year bond rate is also unchanged at 1.81%. The Japanese 10 year bond is up +1 bp at 2.41% today. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 4.74%, back up +10 bps from this this time yesterday. The RBNZ data is now ‘prior day’ with the Thursday rate up +7 bps at 4.70%. The UST 10yr yield is down -1 bp at 4.29%.

EQUITIES MIXED
The local equity market has fallen -0.8% in Friday trade so far. The ASX200 is down -0.3% in afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened on Friday up +1.5% in its opening trade. Hong Kong is +0.6% higher and Shanghai has opened up +0.9%. (China is having a ‘good war’ so far.) Singapore is up a minor +0.1%. Wall Street ended its Thursday trade up +0.6%.

OIL PRICES TURN BACK UP
American oil prices have risen +US$3 from yesterday with the WTI benchmark now at US$98.50/bbl, while the international Brent price is up +US1.50 at US$96.50/bbl.

CARBON MARKET JUMPS BACK INTO LIFE
There has been surprisingly robust trading volumes today on the secondary market, and the price has risen with it, up +$2 to $45/NZU. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD FIRMER
In early Asian trade, gold is higher at US$4749/oz, up +US$34 from yesterday. Silver is up +US$2 USc at just on US$75.50/oz.

NZD ENDS WEEK HIGHER
The Kiwi dollar is up +20 bps from yesterday against the USD, now just on 58.5 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -20 bps at 82.7 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 50 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now just over 62 and up +10 bps from yesterday.

BITCOIN FIRM
The bitcoin price is now at US$71,972 and up +1.3% from this time yesterday. Volatility has been modest at just on +/- 1.9%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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