Here’s when the government will start releasing major economic reports

As the U.S. government resumes operations, Wall Street’s attention will be on when key data on employment, inflation and other economic indicators will be released.

The agencies responsible for the Departments of Labor and Commerce had not released a revised schedule as of Friday morning, but an update is expected soon.

The consensus expectation is that the September jobs report, for which data has already been collected but not yet processed, will be released next week, but this is not certain.

But from there, uncertainty about the release, not to mention a nervous atmosphere among investors, casts a new cloud over the Fed’s increasingly contentious policy-making environment.

“The lack of timely official data has left markets and the Fed operating in a data fog, forcing them to look to alternative sources to determine the underlying outlook,” Shruti Mishra, an economist at Bank of America, said in a note. “Now that the shutdown has been resolved, our focus will now be on the data dumps we receive.”

The shutdown not only halted data collection and publication, but also complicated the situation once data started coming out.

For example, October’s nonfarm payrolls forecast in early December likely does not include that month’s unemployment rate. That’s because the report includes two studies. One is a more objective look at “hard data” from companies that use timecards and payroll numbers to assess how many jobs are filled, and the other involves telephone and written surveys asking households how many people work. The latter study is difficult to replicate because it is used to calculate unemployment rates.

Furthermore, the Consumer Price Index report for October may not be compiled due to data collection methods. Because the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes in-person visits, data cannot be collected retrospectively.

White House press secretary Caroline Levitt warned Wednesday about the missing data, but Mishra said she had not anticipated the CPI report even before that.

A statement on the BLS site asks for patience during the data collection process, saying “it may take time to fully assess the situation and finalize a revised release date.” Similarly, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, which publishes several key data points including the Fed’s inflation measures, said it is working with the BLS and other agencies on data collection and will “announce updated release dates as they become available.”

Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers are already growing impatient and demanding answers from the administration about when the data will be released.

In a letter obtained by CNBC.com, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Gary Peters of Michigan argued that “a government shutdown does not inherently prevent the federal government from collecting and publishing economic data.”

The administration “may be intentionally limiting the release of data,” he said, citing precedent from an October 2013 closure for which the BLS later announced a release date.

“The Trump administration’s failure to release data or provide a clear timeline for releasing data late has left businesses and policymakers without access to critical economic information,” the letter said. “It’s critical that businesses, consumers, workers, Congress, and the Fed have access to timely and comprehensive economic data. The administration should release as much economic data as possible before the Fed meeting and resume normally scheduled data releases as soon as possible.”

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Since Levitt’s statement on Wednesday, multiple officials have said the data will be released in the future, but questions remain about which reports will be released and when. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez Delemer said data on wages and prices must be evaluated for accuracy before being released.

“I don’t know when the BLS can or will be able to announce it, but I’m hopeful that they’ll give us a timeline soon as to when those numbers will be released,” Chavez Delemer said Friday on FOX Business. Chavez added that the White House is “asking for accurate data to be released in November.”

Citigroup economist Andrew Hollenhorst said in a note Friday that he is optimistic the Fed will release jobs data for September, October and November before its next policy meeting on Dec. 9-10. Fed officials had hinted in September that they might cut rates in December, but several key officials have recently said they doubt the need for further easing.

In addition to payroll and CPI reports, BLS also calculates data on import and export prices, job openings, producer prices, productivity, and other metrics. The Department of Labor itself releases weekly unemployment insurance claims numbers.

Beyond the BLS and Department of Labor issues, the Department of Commerce also deals with several important data points.

That includes personal income and spending, including the Fed’s key inflation forecast indicators, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, and Gross Domestic Product. October PCE data is expected to be released on November 26th. The Census Bureau is responsible for releasing retail sales, trade balances, and durable goods. Ministry officials did not respond to requests for comment.