Inflation, politics and data blackout collide around Fed’s rate cut decision

The Federal Reserve is poised to cut interest rates again this week, but the environment surrounding that decision is unusually fraught for the central bank.

A month-long government shutdown has halted or delayed key data about the health of the economy, depriving policymakers of official economic readings. In practice, this means Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell and his colleagues are effectively driving with a cracked windshield, economists say.