Inflation edged up 0.3% in September, driven largely by higher gasoline prices Annual inflation rate now stands at 3.0%, up slightly from August’s

Nearly two dozen days have passed since a federal agency has published an economic report. The US government’s shutdown has resulted in a blackout of critical data, further clouding an already opaque economic outlook.

The BLS halted all collection processing, and publication of economic indicators when the shutdown started. The Fed’s job just got harder.

The last CPI data from August weren’t overly reassuring. It showed headline inflation increased to 2.9%, due mainly to recently instituted tariffs. For comparison, the CPI reading in April, before most of President Trump’s tariffs went into effect, showed inflation of 2.3%.

Economist Justin Wolfers weighs in on the broader implications as rising beef costs drive inflation and trade negotiations with Canada are suspended.

The pace of inflation likely picked up last month, but not enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates next week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to publish the consumer price index for September on Friday at 8:30 a.

The extended government shutdown has put collecting most October inflation data out of reach for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to people familiar with the agency’s operations.