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. Check out the swap rate chart below which suggests fixed rate cuts are unlikely any time soon. 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
Rabobank reduced its rate card for both savings and term deposits. Heretaunga Building Society did too. Xceda cut its TD rates and now has none 4% or more. Southern Cross Partners have reduced its 1 & 2 year rates by -25 bps. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

MORE ACTIVITY, HIGHER PRICES, BUT ALSO MORE STOCK
Dominant Auckland realtor Barfoots says its November trading was “an improvement”. It saw its average and median selling prices rise, mainly due to a strong return of buyers at the top end of the housing market. But it also reported that its stock levels had risen again and are now at 15 year highs.

‘SUMMER WILL BE A BUYERS MARKET’
And that was confirmed by realestate.co.nz who reported that the stock of homes for sale is on the rise while average asking prices declined in November. Their data shows listing numbers of properties for sale nationally are at an 11 year high. The say the summer housing market will be a buyers market.

BUSIER BUT NOT UP TO LAST YEAR
Payments network Worldline says Black Friday, November 28, was the busiest shopping day so far this year for non-food retailers on their network, but spending on the day itself was below last year.

QUIZ TIME
Life might be busy, but take a break and do our newest quiz. It is refreshed and ready for you again.

NZX50 IN MODEST DAILY RISE
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index was up +0.3% so far on Tuesday. That puts it unchanged over the past five working days. It is up +3.3% year-to-date. From a year ago it is now up +2.9%. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is up +1.8% today. Napier Port, Vulcan Steel, Property for Industry, and F&P Healthcare rose today while Gentrack, Briscoes, Summerset, and Contact declined.

UPCOMING
There is another full dairy auction tomorrow and it will be closely watch to see in the recent weakness has continued or gotten worse. Then on Thursday, Fonterra will be reporting on the timing and process of its big capital return after the sale of its Mainland Group to Lactalis.

SWAP RATES FIRM
Wholesale swap rates are probably higher yet again today, continuing the shift up, especially at the longer end. 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 2.46% on Monday. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is up another +7 bps at 4.62%. The China 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 1.83%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +8 bps at 4.50%. The RBNZ data is now ‘prior day’ with Monday’s rate up +5 bps at 4.41%. The UST 10yr yield is also up +5 bps at 4.09%.

EQUITIES MIXED AGAIN
The local equity market is up +0.5% in Tuesday trade so far. The ASX200 is up +0.2% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is up +0.6% in its opening trade. Hong Kong is up +0.8% but Shanghai is down -0.2%. Singapore is +0.2% firmer at its open. Wall Street ended its Monday trade with a -0.5% loss..

OIL HOLD EXTENDS
The oil price in the US little-changed at just under US$59.50/bbl and the international Brent price is still at just over US$63/bbl.

CARBON PRICE STALLS LOW
We can’t find any trades again today so the price holds at the low $40/NZU, the lowest since July 2023. (It peaked at $90.5/NZU in September 2022.) The next official carbon auction is tomorrow and likely heading for another failure. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD DIPS
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$25/oz from yesterday, now at US$4216/oz. Silver has also retreated.

NZD ALSO DIPS
The Kiwi dollar is down -10 bps from this time yesterday, now just under 57.3 USc. Against the Aussie we are also down -10 bps at 87.5 AUc. Against the euro we are -10 bps lower at 49.3 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is at just under 61.9 and down -10 bps.

BITCOIN DIPS FURTHER
The bitcoin price is now at US$86,504 and down -0.8% from this morning. Volatility has been moderate at just on +/- 2.0%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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