The global economy fell in an abyss during the lock-down months. Businesses were shut and as a result, the GDP contracted in most countries. The services sector was the one to be hit the hardest from the coronavirus, as people locked themselves down. Retail sales were expected to dive as well and they did so all over the world, as the reports for March and April showed. The report from New Zealand is released on a quarterly basis, so the decline here was expected to be bigger at 15%. It came above expectations, but only slightly. Below is the retail sales report for Q2:

New Zealand Q2 Retail Sales Report

• Retail sales Q2 -14.6% vs -15% expected
• Q1 retail sales were
• Core retail sales Q2
• Q1 core retail sales were
• Retail sales YoY -14.2%