Every week there are government data that is released and has an effect on the stock market. In general people know the big numbers because they are reported on news sites such as the CPI or consumer price index. Is inflation increasing or decreasing? what will be the effect on interest rates? and the list goes on. The role of the government is to collect the information and then release it to the general public, which can do with it as they like.

In an article by Matt Lundy of Reuters, in recent years economists have raised concerns about companies and consumers shunning surveys to produce vital information about business conditions. But in the early days of the Trump administration their worries have shifted trusted data is disappearing.

The Trump shut down information of websites to comply with gender, diversity and other matters. The slashing of costs of government has also made government data suspect.

People who do use government data from hedge fund managers, to researchers, to students, public health, business owners.

The disappearance of data has wide ranging effects. Government produce reports that the private sector cannot replicate. The statistics inform everything from academic research to corporate decision making, said Erica Groshen, a former commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which is part of the Labor Department.

In order to produce the report it relies on the goodwill of the participation of households and businesses to fill out surveys with private information. If the response rate falls the economic data will be less reliable.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all companies are concerned with data, in larger companies it is big data both from internal and external sources. There is a mixture to paint a larger picture of what is happening to determine what the company should do in the future or make capital allocations. t is reasonable, if the data from the government is suspect to ask about how decisions are being make and relied on.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.