Fed's Barkin: Lost data due to government shutdown would complicate understanding econ

<ul><li>It will be hard to figure out in the economy without data</li><li>Credit card data is a good alternative data set</li><li>I try to talk to businesses and workers what's happening in the economy</li><li>Growth still seems 'solid' in the economy</li><li>It makes sense that lower and middle-income spending is adjusting to a slower pace</li><li>Growth will moderate from earlier this year</li><li>The data on consumer spending in the past few months has been 'extraordinary' but he expects it to slow</li><li>I've heard that the middle income consumer is starting to 're-prioritize' spending</li><li>I'm expecting the next quarter to be 'solid' no 'robust'</li><li>Pace of growth in Q1/Q2 is unlikely to continue</li><li>I think we will see demand softening</li><li>It's very difficult to imagine inflation settling with growth above trend</li><li>We've unleashed people's ability to use price as a lever</li><li>We're still seeing wage pressure in the skilled trades</li><li>The last five months of inflation data have been encouraging</li></ul><p>Barkin is a good indication of the core of the Fed and he clearly wants to see more data and is no rush to adjust the Fed's stance.</p>

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.