Bureau of Labor Statistics: No economic data released during government shutdown

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released a contingency plan for a government shutdown. It will suspend all operations and not release economic data during the government shutdown. It comes at a time when members of Congress are leaning towards forcing a shutdown of the federal government, which could leave policymakers, business leaders and investors without access to the key data they need to assess the state of the U.S. economy. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Santander U.S. capital markets, said the next meeting of the Federal Reserve will be held on October 28-29, and without the latest government data, it will be difficult to justify another rate cut. Some officials are already wary of this and want to see more data. Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the shutdown would not push the U.S. economy into recession, but it would come at a cost and add to the uncertainty that companies and business leaders are already dealing with.