A U.S. government shutdown may affect interest rates — in Canada, too – National
A partial U.S. government shutdown will likely have a domino effect on the next interest rate decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve, economists say, and Canada could see resulting impacts as well.
Many U.S. agencies’ work came to a standstill and hundreds of thousands of employees were furloughed starting at midnight Wednesday after lawmakers failed to reach a short-term funding agreement.Among those affected are the statistical agencies — including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau — whose economic data is relied upon by the American central bank in deciding whether to change its baseline interest rate.If the shutdown persists, economists agree that a compounding lack of data will make it more likely the Fed will keep the rate steady, despite facing intense pol...
