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. Update: Westpac has lowered one fixed rate and raised four others. More here. 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
None here today either. Update: Westpac has raised some longer TD rates. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

DISAPPOINTMENT LOOMS
Latest Reserve Bank figures show a third of owner-occupier mortgage money uplifted from new mortgages in October was on floating rates as home owners seemingly bet on further fixed rate cuts that might not come. And this.

FEWER RULES, MORE ‘FREEDOM’ FOR PROPERTY OWNERS
The Government has announced major ‘reforms’ to the RMA claiming they will save $13.3 bln, with up to 46% of consent & permit applications becoming unnecessary. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says the new system will strengthen property rights and restore ‘freedom’ for property owners.

CARBON ACCOUNTING
It’s old data (2023) but interesting all the same. A StatsNZ release of greenhouse gas emissions on a consumption basis shows total consumption-based emissions were 58,301 kilotonnes, up +1.6% from 2022. Household consumption was the largest contributor, accounting for 70% (40,764 kilotonnes) of total emissions. The carbon footprint of households increased the most, by +5.8%. It shows the production economy generated 78,779 kilotonnes and we imported another 29,210 tonnes. But the local economy only consumed 58,301 kT with the remaining 49,688 kT exported.

DO OUR NEW QUIZ
The latest quiz is now out. You can do it here.

NZX50 WEAKENS
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index was down -0.5% so far on Tuesday. That puts it down -0.7% over the past five working days. It is up +2.7% year-to-date. From a year ago it is now up +4.8%. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is down -1.1% so far today. The gainers are led by SkyTV, Gentrack, Kathmandu and Tourism Holdings; the decliners are led by Infratil, Vista Group, Mercury and Stride Property Group.

OWNING UP DRAWS BIG FINE
General insurer Tower has been ordered to pay a $7 mln penalty for misleading representations that resulted in more than $11 mln in overcharges to its customers. Tower self-reported the breaches in 2021 after an internal investigation. The FMA prosecuted anyway.

CONFIDENCE SLIPS BUT STILL POSITIVE
In Australia, the NAB Business Confidence Index slipped in November from October, but stayed just positive, although the weakest reading since April. The survey showed business conditions softened after declines in sales and profitability.

RBA HOLDS
The Reserve Bank of Australia held its cash rate at 3.60% as expected. There’s more detail here.

SWAP RATES FIRMER STILL
Wholesale swap rates are have likely turned up further today and again, across the board. 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 2.48% on Monday. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is unchanged at 4.73%. The China 10 year bond rate is up +1 bp at 1.86%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +4 bps from yesterday at 4.60%. The RBNZ data is now ‘prior day’ with Monday’s rate up +8 bps at 4.53%. The UST 10yr yield is up +3 bps at 4.17%.

EQUITIES ALL WEAKER
The local equity market is down -0.6% in Tuesday trade so far. The ASX200 is down -0.2% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is down -0.2% in its opening trade. Hong Kong is down -0.4% and Shanghai is is little-changed but soft. Singapore is up +0.2% at its open. Wall Street ended its Monday trade with the S&P500 down -0.3%..

OIL WEAKENS
The oil price in the US is down -US$1.50 at just over US$58.50/bbl and the international Brent price is now at just under US$62.50/bbl.

CARBON PRICE HOLDS LOW
Secondary market transactions are hard to find today, so still at $40/NZU. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD STILL ON HOLD
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$4/oz from yesterday, now at US$4194/oz.

NZD LITTLE-CHANGED
The Kiwi dollar is down -10 bps from this time yesterday, now just under 57.8 USc. Against the Aussie we are up +10 bps at 87.2 AUc. Against the euro we are -10 bps softer at 49.6 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is at just over 61.9 and up less than +10 bps.

BITCOIN SOFTISH
The bitcoin price is now at US$90,055 and down -1.0% from this time yesterday. Volatility has been modest at just over +/- 1.3%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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