There were no major economic news releases scheduled for today. And, it looks like there won't be a heck of a lot to report for some undetermined period in the future. The Commerce Department and the Labor Department -- two primary sources of economic information -- were among the agencies closed by today's government shutdown. So, if you were eagerly awaiting tomorrow's update on the third quarter GDP, you'll just have to be patient.

During the coming week there will be a few releases of data from private sources. Tomorrow, Johnson-Redbook and Mitsubishi Bank/Schroeder-Wertheim will release their weekly reports on the retail sector. Friday the University of Michigan is scheduled to release a report on its consumer sentiment index for December.

The Federal Reserve in unaffected by the shutdown. Thursday the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank will release its December survey of economic activity.

Last but not least, tomorrow the Federal Open Market Committee will meet to assess the condition of the economy and decide whether any economic stimulus, in the form of lower interest rates, is necessary.

Last week I asked all of you to E-mail me your guess on what the Fed would do tomorrow. Would they lower rates? Yes or no? Well, it looks like you were unanimously undecided. Nobody E-mailed me one way or the other. I know you're out there, because occasionally one of you sends me your comments on the articles. I can't say that I blame you for not wanting to go out on a limb on what the Fed will do. I'm not certain myself. What will they do? All I know is that, if the economy continues to slow the way it has in the past several months, sooner or later the Fed will have to ease again.

Byline: Lafferty (MF Merlin)