Commerce Department won’t publish economic data during shutdown

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau will not publish economic data during the partial government shutdown, according to The Wall Street Journal.  

The agencies will not release data on personal income, inflation, gross domestic product, new-home sales, housing construction, trade and more during the shutdown, a spokeswoman told the Journal.

{mosads}As the shutdown entered its sixth day on Thursday, neither the White House nor Democratic leaders had conceded ground in the fight over President Trump’s demand for $5 billion to fund a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Investors often use the Commerce Department data to make trades and businesses use the numbers to plan investments, the Journal noted. The Federal Reserve also uses the data to make decisions about the country’s interest rate. 

“Due to the lapse in Congressional Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce is closed,” a notice on the department’s website says. “Commerce Department websites will not be updated until further notice.”

Data on new home sales for November was previously scheduled for release on Thursday, but it will now be postponed, a Commerce Department official told the Journal.

Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are currently being furloughed or forced to work without pay due to the partial government shutdown.