Ben Casselman

A windfall for companies that build data centers and their suppliers is overshadowing weakness in other industries.

Jobs and inflation data will be released late and with caveats, complicating the Federal Reserve’s interest rate deliberations.

The federal government shutdown canceled a second straight jobs report, but private data sources suggest the labor market has weakened modestly since summer.

Tariffs and uncertainty were already making the economy hard to read. The loss of government data during the shutdown has made the situation much worse.

Since the shutdown began, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has not been gathering the new data it needs to produce future reports, since its staff is furloughed.

Plus, a brazen heist at the Louvre.

Data show a resilient economy. But that largely reflects spending by the rich, while others pull back amid high prices and a weakening labor market.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is calling back some employees to produce the Consumer Price Index for September. That data is needed to calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries.

“Flying blind amidst heavy fog is a dangerous proposition,” one economist said about the risks of a lapse in official statistics.

The central bank’s cautious approach to defending itself against President Trump is drawing scrutiny as the institution’s independence comes under threat.