White House Says Government Unlikely to Ever Release October CPI and Jobs Reports
U.S. President Donald Trump's spokeswoman told reporters Wednesday that due to the ongoing government shutdown, officials will likely never release the delayed October Consumer Price Index and nonfarm payrolls reports.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the shutdown – which she blamed on the opposition Democratic Party – "may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system, with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released."
"All of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period," she said.
The shutdown, which entered its 43rd day on Wednesday but appeared to be heading toward a conclusion, cut off the normal flow of official government reports on inflation, employment and other economic measures that Wall Street heavily relies on.
Government statisticians produced almost none of their regular data because the shutdown put all "non-essential" federal workers on furlough.
However, the U.S. House will vote on a measure Wednesday evening that passed the Senate on Sunday to reopen the government, which could be back to normal operations later this week.
Many market watchers had assumed that the government would produce the missing economic measures retroactively once the shutdown ends, but Leavitt threw cold water on that idea Wednesday.
A lack of such official data could hamper Federal Reserve members – who set the benchmark Federal Funds rates based on inflation and unemployment risks – when they meet on Dec. 9-10 for their next monetary-policy meeting.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference following the central bank's Oct. 29 meeting and decision to cut the Fed Funds rate by 25 points that a lack of official data could impact the group's December gathering.
He said the shutdown "is a temporary state of affairs, and we're going to do our jobs" anyway.
But Powell did say that "what do you do when you're driving in a fog? You slow down."
"There's a possibility that it would make more sense to be more cautious [in December]," he said. "I'm not committing to that, but there's a possibility we would say: 'We really can't see, so let's slow down.'" – meaning the Fed might pause its recent string of rate cuts.
The CME FedWatch tool, which calculates rate-move odds based on Fed Funds futures trading, was estimating at 65.4% chance of a 25-point cut at the Fed's upcoming meeting. That's down from a 91.7% probability that the tool projected one month ago.
Wall Street generally likes Fed rate cuts because they usually lower yields on money markets and bonds, historically driving more money into stocks (and raising equity prices) as investors seek out better returns.
However, word of plans to never release October economic data appeared to have little impact on the market Wednesday.
The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ was up 0.7% at 48,255.35 as of shortly before 2:30 p.m. ET, while the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ was down 94.54 ticks (0.4%) at 23,373.76 and the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ was off 0.15 points (0.002%) at 6,846.46. That's roughly where the indexes stood before Leavitt's comments.
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Pyro-1 : oh boy this is gonna go over REALLY well
. Makes you wonder. The reports are starting to look so bad that they just flat out arent going to release the info. We are within 90 days of an apocolyptic melt down. Trade carefully. Hedge hedge hedge your bets…
70908489 : this was expected. inflation for common man is very high
notlrac : hmmm i wonder why
Eu : $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ blessings on blessings
Julien198142 : bunch of clowns
Stealthblack : the worst
Hutao’s Pupil : this was calculated… hes a sharp one. i feel like something big will happen by the end of this year. perhaps a pop in what we call the “ai bubble”? if the employment rate is this low that even a cover up was needed then this is rasing some serious flags all across the board.
RumpleStuntz : This administration is a shit show
abysys 70908489 : theres no inflation look prices everywhere , everything have discounts
Pyro-1 Hutao’s Pupil : its 100% going to happen by the end of the year…. it will be an epic meltdown….. the cracks are forming. its too late to save now
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