Federal Reserve officials are officially flying blind as a government shutdown precluded Friday’s release of a key monthly jobs report, arguably the most important data needed to make a decision about the future path of monetary policy at a meeting later this month. But markets don't appear to be concerned that unanswered questions about the health of the US labor market will knock the central bank off course for two expected rate cuts by the end of the year. Traders are pricing in a nearly 97% chance the Fed cuts rates by another quarter percentage point to 3.75% to 4% at its next meeting on Oct. 28-29. They also ... (full story)