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
UnityMoney raised its 2 year ‘special’ today to 4.89%. 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
UnityMoney also raised its TD rates for all terms 6 months & longer, but cut shorter rates. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

PROTECTING CASH AVAILABILITY
The Reserve Bank has opened public consultation on a proposal that would require banks to provide a minimum level of cash services, including withdrawal, deposits and cash exchanging at a cost potentially of about $104 million a year

DAIRY PRICES FIRM
The overnight dairy Pulse auction did not bring the gains the derivatives market pricing suggested, but they held or bettered the new higher levels of the prior week’s full auction. The small push higher for SMP means it is now at its highest since December 2022.

TAKE A BREAK, DO OUR QUIZ
Our quiz has been updated for this week’s edition. You can do it here. And a new one will be added every Monday.

LESS CAPACITY
The sale of NZ$250 mln of foreign currencies in January, and the rising NZD (falling USD), has taken $1 bln out of the RBNZ’s currency intervention capacity. It is now down to $26.4 bln from $27.6 bln in December (which was the record high).

NO RECOVERY YET
Regular readers will know that we track commercial lease listing levels. Demand for commercial premises remains modest nationally, although there are some encouraging pockets, mostly in the South Island. But overall, this leading indicator is not signaling an economic recovery.

NZX50 UP MARGINALLY
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is up +0.2% so far today. But that still puts it up +2.3% over the past five working days. It is now up +3.6% from six months ago. From a year ago it is now up +10.0%. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is up +0.2% so far today. Property for Industry, Gentrack, Tower and SkyCity casino rise as Serko, Ryman, Channel Infrastructure and Vulcan are the main decliners.

STAYING ELEVATED
In Australia, their CPI inflation came in at 3.8% in January, unchanged from the December rate, but higher than the expected 3.7% dip. The largest contributor was housing related costs, up +6.8%, up from +5.5% in December. This was due to cost rises for electricity, new dwellings, and rents.. This was followed by food, up +3.1%. Recreation costs rose +3.7%. No sign of inflation easing here, and that will attract financial market speculation about the RBA’s next rate review.

SWAP RATES HOLD
Wholesale swap rates are probably little-changed to marginally firmer today. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The 90 day bank bill rate was unchanged at 2.49% on Tuesday. Today, the Australian 10 year bond yield is up +1 bp at 4.72%. The China 10 year bond rate is up +1 bp at 1.80%. The Japanese 10 year bond is up +11 bp at 2.10% today. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is now at 4.40%, up +2 bps from this time yesterday. The RBNZ data is now ‘prior day’ with Tuesday’s rate down -1 bp at 4.35%. The UST 10yr yield is unchanged from yesterday, now just on 4.04%.

EQUITIES MOSTLY HIGHER
The local equity market has flat-lined in Wednesday trade. However, the ASX200 is up +1.1% in afternoon trade. Tokyo is up +1.5% in its opening trade. Hong Kong is up +0.4% and Shanghai is up +0.6%. Singapore is down -0.2%. Wall Street was up +0.8% on the S&P500 at the end of its Tuesday trade, not quite recovering Monday’s fall.

OIL DIPS SLIGHTLY
American oil prices are back down -50 USc at just over US$66/bbl, while the international Brent price is over US$71/bbl.

CARBON PRICE RISES
There have been more trades but small ones today on the secondary market, but the price has pushed up to $47/NZU. See our daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD FIRMS SLIGHTLY
In early Asian trade, gold has risen slightly from this time yesterday, up +US9/oz and now at US$5180/oz. Silver is up almost +US$3 at just under US$89/oz.

NZD FIRMS
The Kiwi dollar is up +10 bps from this time yesterday against the USD, now at just on 59.7 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -10 bps at 84.3 AUc. Against the euro we up +10 bps at 50.7 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now just on 63.2 and up +10 bps from this morning.

BITCOIN FIRMS
The bitcoin price is now at US$65,975 and up +2.8% from this time yesterday. Volatility has been moderate at +/- 2.6%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

Keep abreast of upcoming events by following our Economic Calendar here ».