U.S. Government Shutdown Delays Federal Data
· The federal government shutdown on Tuesday as Congress was unable to agree on a budget for fiscal year 2014. Negotiations remain at an impasse and attention has shifted to whether Washington will be able to avert hitting the debt ceiling, which is expected to be reached on Oct. 17.
· Most economic reports published by federal government agencies were delayed this week due to employees being furloughed. Non-federal data on the manufacturing sector showed some further improvement, but the ISM nonmanufacturing index slipped in September.