It has been over a week since the U.S. government shut down on October 1 due to the inability of Congress to come to an agreement over appropriations legislation before the start of the US’ 2014 fiscal year (White House).
The government shutdown initially furloughed 800,000 public servants. While the Pentagon has since called back 350,000 employees (CNBC), most are still on unpaid leave until the U.S. budget is passed. What this has meant, though, is that government data sources that analysts, traders, researchers, and fact checkers regularly depend on will not be publishing reports.
Companies that rely on government data for their operations are scrambling to adjust. Cargill, Tyson Foods, and Smithfield Foods, for instance, are currently changing their pricing methods to deal with the absence of USDA data (Reuters).
You can expect a disruption in your data service from the following U.S. public sources, as they will not be issuing data until their employees come back to work:
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Energy Information Agency (EIA)
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
FERC and the Federal Reserve, however, are continuing normal operations.