The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates Wednesday for the third time this year.

Traders overwhelmingly expect a relatively small 0.25% cut, the same size as the last two cuts.

But the Fed's rate-setting meeting in Washington is taking place in the fog of a data blackout, the result of the prolonged federal government shutdown this fall.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the September jobs report, but the October report was canceled altogether, and the November report remains a work in progress.

The delayed November jobs report is set be released Dec. 16.

Like the jobs report, October's consumer price index was canceled. And all-important November inflation data will also arrive late, on Dec. 18.

Meanwhile, alternative data has consistently pointed to a slowi

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