The publication of major US economic data, including employment and inflation reports of critical importance to policymakers and investors, will be suspended indefinitely should the federal government shut down at the end of this week because of lack of funding, a government official said. The suspension of the reports would occur across all government agencies such as the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), and leave policymakers at the Federal Reserve, investors, businesses and ordinary Americans in the dark as they ... (full story)