The US labor department is looking at cutting the program that tracks import/export prices which is a major gauge of inflation in the economy. The decision could come as early as this week. The data is compiled form US companies and from the fundamental economic perspective companies also use the report to adjust prices on sales and purchases.
The statistics agencies are facing lower budgets after the the deal to fund the federal government for the next two years was passed last month. The BLS has seen an increase in funding for this year but it’s well below 2011 & 2012 levels.
Other departments face looking at cost cutting and the Commerce department has said it may look to cut research into capital flow data in and out of the US.
I don’t know about you folks but the market probably ignores 75% of economic data but personally I think 90% of it is important for gauging a fundamental overview of economies and sentiment.
Another one from the WSJ
Do you guys and girls think we get too much and pointless data?
