The shutdown-imposed data gap could be permanent

The government shutdown is over. The data disruption it sowed will linger.

Why it matters: The record-long data blackout will soon give way to a slew of delayed reports. • But there might be a permanent gap in our understanding of how the economy fared in October that could impair the interpretation of November data. • The November data "will suffer from the lack of contextualization that we typically have ... a problem that will be significantly ameliorated in early January with the December data," Guy Berger, a senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, wrote Wednesday.

Driving the news: The White House said Wednesday that the Bureau of Labor Statistics might not release any of last month's data. • "The Democrats may have permanently damaged the Federal statistical system with