News
Fed Meeting Faces Inflation Data Uncertainty
The Federal Reserve's upcoming October 27-28 meeting is facing uncertainty due to a significant shortfall in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collection of targeted consumer price quotes. In September, the BLS collected 66.3% of targeted price observations, down from 67.6% a year earlier. This raises questions about the statistical information supporting the inflation figures underpinning interest-rate expectations, particularly as US consumer prices rose 3.7% annually in September, accelerating from 3.4% in August.