The US Bureau of Labor Statistics did not release its September non-farm payrolls report on Friday as scheduled after a federal government shutdown forced the agency to suspend data collection and publication. The Labor Department confirmed that the release was postponed indefinitely.

The monthly employment report, normally published on the first Friday of each month, is among the most closely watched economic indicators on Wall Street. It informs Federal Reserve policy decisions and moves equity, bond and currency markets. Its absence left traders without a central reference point heading into October.

Economists at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had forecast payroll gains of roughly 50,000 to 80,000 jobs for September, with the unemployment rate expected near 4.3 percent. Those estimates cannot be confirmed until the shutdown ends and the BLS resumes operations.

The agency said it would require additional time to compile delayed data once operations restart. This data blackout complicates the Federal Reserve's deliberations ahead of its late-October meeting. Investors tracking federal funds futures had leaned toward another rate cut, but policymakers led by Chair Jerome Powell will face the decision with reduced visibility on the labor market.

Private gauges such as the ADP National Employment Report gained added prominence as substitutes. Treasury yields and the dollar traded in narrow ranges on Friday morning in the absence of the report, according to data from the CME Group. Fund managers said uncertainty was likely to persist until Congress resolved the funding impasse and the statistical agencies restarted operations.