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
There are many floating rate changes today after the OCR cut. A comprehensive list is here. If there are fixed rate changes, those changed will be here. All rates are here.

TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
For all the matching savings account changes today, see this. If there are also term deposit rate changes, they will be summarised here. In addition to those, Sharesies trimmed rates too. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.

OCR CUT
The RBNZ, newly led by Christian Hawkesby, cut the OCR today by -25 bps to 3.50% as expected. Details here.

NO MORE CONSTRUCTION INFLATION
Residential construction costs were up less than +1% in the year to February, after several years of high cost growth.

STILL WELL OVER-STOCKED
The stock of properties for sale continues growing on Trade Me Property, now at 49,155 residential listings. Autumn price signals are mixed.

FORMAL WARNING
The Commerce Commission has issued a warning and negotiated enforceable undertakings from South Canterbury-based Alpine Energy after an accounting error resulted in it overcharging customers by $16.9 mln.

NZX UPDATE
As at 3pm, the overall NZX50 index is down -0.5% and the weekly change is now -3.8%. Year-to-date it is down -9.3%, and the change from this time last year is now -0.5%. SkyCity, The Warehouse, EBOS, and Hallenstein are the biggest gainers today as Summerset, Vista Group, Gentrack, and Kiwi Property Group all lead the decliners. Market heavyweight F&P Healthcare is down -0.6% so far today.

LITTLE-CHANGE
Today’s GDT Pulse milk powder action brought little change, and the changes there were, were less than expected.

BIGGER BUFFERS
The minimum stockholding obligation for diesel importers will increase from 21 to 28 days’ cover, bolstering New Zealand’s diesel reserves and resilience to supply disruptions, the government has announced. The industry isn’t happy, claiming the costs will be passed on to consumers. (Sounds like the banks. Every industry hates holding “more capital” to protect from risks, and always claim “consumers will pay”. But when the s-hits-the-f, they will expect the taxpayer to bail them out.)

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER FORECAST
Metservice and NIWA are being merged. Technically, NIWA will acquire MetService. Both are Government owned. The government isn’t keen on the benefits of competition, preferring a monopoly.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC QUAKE
In this update, we are not ignoring the biggest global story, the almost complete breakdown in the US-China relationship. It is an earthquake from which will be many aftershocks, many felt here. See our Breakfast Briefing for more details (or almost every other news service).

SWAP RATES HOLD
Wholesale swap rates are probably little-changed at the short end today and a little firmer over longer durations. Update: In a sharp end of session move, these rates fell rather sharply. Keep an eye on our chart below which will record the final positions closer to 5pm. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +2 bps at 3.49% on Tuesday. The Australian 10 year bond yield is up +13 bps at 4.39%. The China 10 year bond rate is down -1 bp at 1.65%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is up +21 bps at 4.80% from this time yesterday while today’s RBNZ fix was at 4.62% and up +9 bps from Tuesday. The UST 10yr yield is now just on 4.37% and up +21 bps from this time yesterday. Their 2yr is up +1 bps at 3.73%, so that positive curve has now moved out to +64 bps, and its most suince mid 2022.

EQUITIES FALL HARD AGAIN
The NZX50 is down -0.3% in late Wednesday trade. The ASX200 is down -1.4% in afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened down -2.6% in early Wednesday trade. Hong Kong is down -1.3%, while Shanghai is down -0.3% at its open. Singapore has opened down another -1.4%. On Wall Street, the S&P500 was down -1.6% in Tuesday trade.

OIL DIVES
The oil price is -US$4 softer from this time yesterday and now just over US$57.50/bbl in the US, and just on US$61/bbl for the international Brent price.

CARBON PRICE LITTLE-CHANGED BUT SOFTER
The carbon price is only marginally lower again today and now at NZ$54.50/NZU. The next official carbon auction is on Wednesday, June 18, with a $68 floor price. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.

GOLD HOLDS
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$1 from this time yesterday, now at US$3003/oz.

NZD FALLS
The Kiwi dollar is down -40 bps from this time yesterday at 55.4 USc. At one point today it hit its lowest level since March 2009, a 16 year low, under 55 USc but has since recovered. Against the Aussie we are down -10 bps from yesterday at 92.4 AUc. Against the euro we are down -50 bps at 50.3 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is down to 65.3.

BITCOIN FALLS
The bitcoin price is down -5.3% from this time yesterday, now at US$75,712. Volatility of the past 24 hours has been high at just on +/- 3.5%.

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This soil moisture chart is animated here.

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