The Federal Reserve will gain more insight into the economy today as its members continue to mull whether to cut interest rates again next month.
The longest-ever government shutdown left policymakers without official data as they attempted to navigate fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade agenda.
But they’ll be able to fill in some of the blanks this morning when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its September Producer Price Index — one of the last windows into inflation before the Fed meets on Dec. 9. The central bankers will also get key earnings reports, September retail sales, and consumer confidence data.
Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, who is in the running to take over as chair, and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly both said Monday they’ll advocate for cutting interest rates in December — but Waller predicted a “meeting-by-meeting approach” afterward, given the deluge of reports expected later in the month.