By Ben Shimkus,Editor
Copyright dailymail
Key jobs report canceled just as Wall Street watches for recession signals
READ MORE: Wall Street falls from highs as Fed chairman warns of unseen risk
By BEN SHIMKUS, US CONSUMER REPORTER
Published: 17:30 BST, 29 September 2025 | Updated: 18:03 BST, 29 September 2025
The Labor Department is preparing Wall Street investors to make some trades in the dark.
On Monday, the government agency released a 73-page memo that detailed its plans if the US government spirals into a shutdown.
Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate have not agreed to a resolution to keep non-essential parts of the government open.
If they don’t agree to a new funding measure by Wednesday, employees in the federal government, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, will stop working.
‘BLS will suspend all operations,’ the memo said. ‘Economic data that are scheduled to be released during the lapse will not be released.’
The plans include a pause on all upcoming federal economic reports, including the monthly nonfarm payrolls data that was set for an all-important release on Friday.
Wall Street investors have been closely watching jobs data for several months, with the hopes that it will influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies.
The Fed, which has a dual mandate to push jobs growth and limit inflation to two percent, uses its interest rates as a blunt tool.
The jobs market has become increasingly unsteady, leading governors inside America’s Fed to say the bank must further cut rates
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When inflation increases, the rate swings higher to slow down price hikes. When jobs growth cools, rates plummet to make it cheaper for businesses to borrow money and hire more workers.
During their most recent meeting in mid-September, the Fed’s 12-person board voted to lower interest rates for the first time this year, and cited growing jobs market schisms as a potential reason for another cut.
But now, disagreement between elected officials could get in the way of reporting the important information.
Other scheduled data releases — including the October 15 consumer price index reading — could also pause if lawmakers don’t pass a budget.
Since the Fed’s last meeting, Wall Street has been on a tear, believing that the next vote would bring even more cuts, making it easier to spend and invest cash.
However, the bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, said the vote was tricky, following August data that showed more Americans were lining up at unemployment offices, and prices at grocery stores, mechanic shops, clothing retailers, and restaurants had jumped.
‘The unemployment rate is low but has edged up,’ he said. ‘Job gains have slowed, and the downside risks to employment have risen.
‘In recent months, it has become clear that the balance of risks has shifted, prompting us to move our policy stance closer to neutral at our last meeting.’
Investors are getting ready for the Fed to cut rates during their October meeting, which would make business investment far cheaper
Workers across the US have struggled to find jobs, with the BLS reporting a weaker-than-expected jobs market last month
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Now, as bankers try to find consensus before their late-October meeting, they might have to do it with fewer data points.
President Donald Trump is hosting a last-ditch effort to negotiate a truce with lawmakers opposing his budget plans.
But, when asked if the government was heading toward a shutdown, he didn’t seem hopeful for an agreement.
‘We could be, yeah,’ he told reporters when asked if he thought the shutdown was imminent.
The news has had little impact on the market today, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 staying in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial is down just over 0.1 percent.
None of the three major indexes have moved deeper since the BLS’s announcement.
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Key jobs report canceled just as Wall Street watches for recession signals
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