New Zealand retail sales: (QoQ) (Q3) actual: 4.5% vs 0.2% previous (NZD positive (spikes 20 pips))

Today’s quarter three retail sales volumes have been released and while it is a second trier data release, it is still a closely watched component of production GDP. The data arrived as follows and as a positive for the bird:

Data release

• New Zealand Retail Sales (QoQ) (Q3) Actual: 4.5% Vs 0.2% Previous.
• New Zealand Core Retail Sales (Qoq) Actual: 1.6% Vs 0.2% Previous.

NZD/USD jumps 20 pips from 0.6406 to a high of 0.6425.

FX implications

The retail Sales released by the Statistics New Zealand measures the total receipts of retail stores. Quarterly percent changes reflect the rate of changes of such sales. Changes in Retail Sales are widely followed as an indicator of consumer spending. A high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the NZD, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish). On this data, the bird has spiked about 20 pips.