New Zealand - Retail Card Spending for January -0.1% m/m (expected 0.4%)

New Zealand - Card Spending for January

• Total card spending +0.3% m/m vs. prior -0.6% m/m

• Retail card spending -0.1% vs. expected 0.4% m/m & prior -0.8%

The February figure (data due out in about a month) will show a negative impact of the response to the coronavirus spread - NZ has banned inbound visitors from China.

The card data covers nearly 70% of core retail sales in NZ and is used as the main indicator of retail sales activity.

NZD is barely responding to the data release. Awaiting the RBNZ!