Marketplace All-in-One Does the central bank have enough data to go off of?
Oct 28, 2025
The Fed is meeting amidst a data blackout due to the government shutdown, raising questions about their decision-making. Regional surveys are being used for unique insights, while the Beige Book's local anecdotes help policymakers understand consumer behavior. Meanwhile, workplace insurance premiums are on the rise, driven by expensive treatments and shifting costs to employees. Lastly, housing costs are becoming burdensome in major U.S. cities, with Hialeah, Florida, standing out for high income-to-housing ratios.
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Fed Facing A Slim Data Diet
- The Fed lacks many usual government data sources during the shutdown and leans on regional Fed surveys and anecdotal reports.
- That reliance makes the overall data picture thinner and riskier for policy decisions.
Regional Fed Intel Partly Fills Gaps
- Regional Fed banks compensate with surveys, sector-specific intel, and the Beige Book to gauge hiring, prices, and backlogs.
- Those sources give a broad swath of signals but lack the completeness of standard federal statistics.
Fed Tools Still Need Federal Inputs
- Some Fed-produced tools, like Atlanta's GDP Now, depend on federal inputs that are delayed in a shutdown.
- As time passes, relying more on imperfect indicators makes policy bases shakier.