US economic data to trickle in gradually as government reopens
35-day partial shutdown has made it hard to assess how economy fared toward end of 2018
Washington, D.C.: US economy-watchers can hope to regain access to key data after President Donald Trump agreed to reopen the government, though the delayed releases will probably come in fits and starts over several weeks.
Reports on gross domestic product, consumer spending, housing and trade — among the ones postponed or that are still likely to be delayed — may start trickling in, as the Commerce Department restarts the process of collecting, analysing and releasing the figures over the next month or so, based on what happened following previous shutdowns.
A similar flow of data can be expected from the Agriculture and Treasury departments, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The 35-day partial shutdown, the longest on record, has made it hard to assess how the economy was faring toward the end of 2018 and early this year.
While that challenge may ease in coming weeks, the full resumption of economic reports still won’t come in time for the meeting next week of Federal Reserve policymakers, who have increasingly emphasised their data dependence as they feel their way toward a peak in the rate-hiking cycle.