New housing market and retail spending data show both sections of the economy are struggling to pick up momentum.
Investors had been expecting better news and the data pushed the New Zealand dollar down sharply.
Radio New Zealand's economics correspondent says economists had thought retail sales would hold steady in July but Statistics New Zealand figures show they fell 0.4% during the month.
Investors dumped the New Zealand dollar immediately and it lost 0.5 cents against its American counterpart.
By 11.45am on Tuesday, the dollar had recovered a fraction of that and was back over 73 US cents.
Weak house sales figures for August did not help sentiment towards the kiwi.
Almost 4300 houses changed hands during the month - the second lowest August turnover since the Real Estate Institute started records in 1991.
But prices rose slightly in a sign sellers are reluctant to lower prices to get a sale.
