US jobs data may be released early as shutdown leaves Fed blind
Market watchers have long warned that a shutdown of the US government – the first in 17 years – could mean that key unemployment figures are not released.
Those are so critical because the Federal Reserve will base its decision to begin tapering – a reduction in the rate of expansion of the monetary base – when the jobs market is deemed healthy enough.
This morning there's some (unconfirmed) market chatter about an early release of the nonfarm payrolls report we expected this Friday. That data could come as early as today.
From Dow Jones:
As analysts come to grips with what a U.S. government shutdown means for financial markets, word on the street is that U.S. non-farm payrolls – the monthly indicator of jobs being created – could be released earlier, possibly today, instead of the typical first Friday of the month.
This is exactly what happened back in 1995 with the U.S. Consumer Price Index data, when the government also went into shutdown due to a budget impasse.