Fed Policy in the Fog of Missing Data

From pimco.com

The ongoing U.S. government shutdown has policymakers – and investors – operating without much of the timely official data that usually inform their decisions. This could have a tangible impact on Federal Reserve policy in particular: Without crucial information on inflation and labor markets, the Fed could take a more cautious approach to interest rate moves while it awaits more clarity on the state of the U.S. economy. A detailed review of the transcript of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference following last week’s Fed meeting suggests that the longer the shutdown drags on, the more the probability of ... (full story)