The Labor Department said Wednesday it wouldn’t issue complete October jobs data because of the effects of the government shutdown. The spotty data means Federal Reserve officials will head into their December meeting with an incomplete picture of a labor market that has recently raised concern because of slow hiring and a spate of white-collar layoffs. Minutes of the Fed’s October meeting, released yesterday, suggested that officials were divided on how they should proceed in December. Elsewhere, China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged in November, according to official data released Thursday, as the economy remains on track to meet its growth target this year. And a key gauge of ​inflation in Japan is reaching the central bank's target, says a member of its policy board, signaling that the next Bank of Japan interest-rate hike may be coming soon.

Divisions over whether the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates next month deepened at officials’ October meeting, leaving a growing contingent—and potentially a narrow majority—of policymakers uncomfortable with a December rate reduction.

“Participants expressed strongly differing views about what policy decision would most likely be appropriate at the committee’s December meeting,” according to a written record of the meeting released Wednesday afternoon with the customary three-week lag.

President Trump said he wants to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has advised against it. "I’ll be honest. I’d like to fire his ass," Trump said during a speech at an investment forum on Wednesday, calling Bessent a "voice of reason" who has encouraged the president not to attempt to oust Powell.

China's economy expanded 5.2% in the first three quarters from a year earlier, above the government's growth target of around 5.0% for 2025. Economists say Beijing is unlikely to introduce new stimulus measures for the rest of the year, despite signs of a slowdown in the final quarter, as the country's economy is already on track to meet the growth target.

Though there are many ways to calculate inflation, when factoring in measurement errors and uncertainty, "I believe that underlying inflation is about 2%," Bank of Japan's policy board member Junko Koeda told business leaders on Thursday. ​The yen had weakened to near 157.50 against the dollar ​Thursday morning amid receding expectations for an imminent BOJ rate hike and doubts about a December cut by the Federal Reserve. After his first formal bilateral meeting with ​Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this week, BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda said a rate-hike decision depends on economic indicators. The BOJ's next policy-setting meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18-19. In Thursday's speech, in Japan's northern prefecture of Niigata, Koeda​ reaffirmed the bank's stance of pursuing further interest-rate hikes, depending on improvements in the economy and prices. Market participants, however, think the BOJ now faces a higher hurdle in resuming tightening as Takaichi is in favor of accommodative monetary policy. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Canada is caught in a "vicious circle" of weak productivity that won't be broken without a regulatory overhaul to make the economy more conducive business investment, says a senior Bank of Canada official. Deputy Governor Nicolas Vincent is the latest senior Bank of Canada policymaker to sound the alarm on the need to reverse Canada's decadeslong productivity slump, which he said is holding back wage growth and making the economy less resilient to shocks, like the abrupt shift in U.S. trade policy. He also made the link between improved productivity and keeping a lid on inflation. "If we want to make things more affordable, we need to raise our income. And the way to grow our income is by increasing productivity." said Vincent, according to prepared remarks set for delivery in Quebec City. (DJN)

Michael Selig, the nominee to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was pressed at his confirmation hearing Wednesday to weigh in on the debate around prediction markets, Barron's reports.

Asked by U.S. senators whether prediction market event contracts were a form of gambling, Selig declined to give a direct answer. “On this issue, I would look to the courts,” he said during the hearing.

Should he be confirmed, Selig would take the helm of a regulatory agency that has come under increased scrutiny as prediction market firms like Kalshi offer financial instruments that closely replicate sports betting. They fall under the CFTC’s regulation, unlike traditional sports betting, which is overseen by states. 

8:30 a.m.: Employment Report
8:30 a.m.: Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey
8:30 a.m.: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims
10 a.m.: Advance Quarterly Services
10 a.m.: Leading Indicators
10 a.m.: Existing Home Sales
11 a.m.: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Survey of Tenth District Manufacturing
11 a.m.: Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook speaks at 'Assessing Resilience and Vulnerabilities in the Financial System' event
1:15 p.m.: Federal Reserve Board of Governors closed meeting for a periodic supervisory update
1:45 p.m.: FRB Chicago President Austan Goolsbee participates in CFA Society of Indianapolis Annual Lunch
6:15 p.m.: Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran speaks at American Investment Council General Counsel Day event

9:45 a.m.: US Flash Manufacturing PMI
9:45 a.m.: US Flash Services PMI
10 a.m.: University of Michigan Survey of Consumers - final
6 p.m.: Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr speaks at National College Fed Challenge finals

The Federal Reserve remains in easing mode even though the latest FOMC minutes were on the hawkish side, Jefferies's Mohit Kumar says in a note. "Even if the Fed skips December, we expect them to ease in January," the global economist says. The Fed responds to data and Jefferies expects employment figures to carry a greater weight than inflation over the coming months. "Our base case remains one of a modest slowdown in employment with unemployment rate rising towards 4.5%," Kumar says. That scenario would be consistent with further easing from the Fed and taking rates toward neutral, he adds. The neutral policy rate is an estimated level which neither stimulates nor restricts the economy. — Emese Bartha

Roberto Perli, manager of the Fed's presence in financial markets, told policymakers at the Fed's October meeting that financial conditions suggested the Fed should end its balance-sheet runoff soon, according to the minutes of the meeting. Indeed, the Fed followed through and voted to end balance-sheet runoff as of Dec. 1. Perli noted that financial pressures in short-term lending markets had risen. He noted that if pressures continued to worsen, excessive money-market volatility could impede the Fed's ability to fine-tune interest rates in accordance with its monetary-policy decisions. — Matt Grossman

WSJ Pro Central Banking brings you central banking news, analysis and insights from WSJ’s global team of reporters and editors. This newsletter was compiled by markets reporter Vicky Ge Huang in New York. Send your tips, suggestions and feedback to vicky.huang@wsj.com.