Stock investors and business journalists unite each month for one shared, suspenseful moment — the 8:30 a.m. release of the Labor Department's employment report.
The unveiling of the report — so rich with data on job creation, unemployment, wages and hours — can be counted upon to set off a tsunami of tweets. Economists jump in with instant analysis and politicians fire off press releases with reactions.
That market-moving report was due this Friday.
But it won't come out — leaving Federal Reserve policymakers, investors and job seekers scratching their heads about labor-market conditions.
Because of the federal government's partial shutdown, the Labor Department is not releasing its most closely watched report. "An alternative release date has not been scheduled," the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists will have to try reading tea leaves — or at least examining less-reliable private reports — to get a sense of what the job market did in September.
"You hate to have data delayed because that creates uncertainty," said John Canally, an economist for LPL Financial, a Boston-based financial services firm. Not getting that jobs report "deprives the markets of important information," he said.
Among economists, the monthly jobs report, compiled by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, is considered a "gold standard" report. It has a long history and a broad reach, including information from both employers and members of households.
On Thursday, economists did get one government-generated report with the release of data on initial claims for unemployment compensation. The first-time claims increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 last week. Economists had forecast 314,000 new claims would be filed, so the report suggests the job market was a bit stronger than most people had thought.
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