The federal government shutdown is probably hurting the U.S. economy, but it's also hurting the ability of financial advisors, economists and others to see how the economy is doing.
Life insurance agents who want to get a rough idea of how a client's income might change, annuity advisors who are trying to understand what might happen to investment market volatility, and ordinary clients who just want to know what's happening now have to get by without the usual carefully scheduled bursts of data from federal agencies such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Global Management, Athene's parent, and colleagues tried to fill the void recently by posting a guide to alternative data sources.
Even some of alternative data sources are now missing. The Apollo guide, for example, mentions Statue of Liberty visitor counts. Those come from the National Park Service, which has shut down.
But plenty of the other sources still work.
For a look at seven alternative economic data streams that are still flowing, see the gallery accompanying this article.
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