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... The shutdown also prevented the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics from publishing month-to-month changes for November's Consumer Price Index report on Thursday, as most of the price data for October was not collected. The October CPI release was canceled because the data could not be collected retroactively. It was the first time that the BLS did not publish monthly CPI rates.

The shutdown also prevented the statistics agency this week from publishing an unemployment rate for October for the first time since the government started tracking the series in 1948. Policymakers, investors, businesses and households will have to wait for December data for clarity on inflation and the health of the labor market.

"The lack of detail and the absence of data collection during the shutdown introduce a degree of skepticism that's hard to ignore," said Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings. "We will need to wait until next month for a clearer read on inflation."

The CPI rose 2.7% on a year-over-year basis in November after increasing 3.0% in the 12 months through September. ...