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The United States monetary authority lowered interest rates on Wednesday, representing the second rate cut in the current year during financial volatility stemming from the government closure and trade duties.

Decision Comes at Unprecedented Moment for Federal Reserve

The decision to cut the key rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4% arrives at an unprecedented juncture for the Fed. The institution has been under immense pressure to cut rates even with ongoing price increases.

Fed Statement Notes Job Market Shifts

In a statement, the Fed said that the unemployment rate had increased but remains low. “Employment growth have decelerated,” the statement notes. “Price increases has moved up and remains somewhat elevated.”

Government Shutdown Hinders Fed’s Job

The continuing government stoppage, now one of the longest in US history, has also complicated the central bank’s task. Collection of key economic data has been indefinitely halted as employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics are furloughed during the shutdown.

Data Gap Impacts Policy Decisions

The Federal Reserve typically analyzes BLS data to determine labor market conditions, including the number of employment gains added to the market and the current jobless percentage. The last jobs report was published in the beginning of last month, before the shutdown, and provided a relatively bleak overview of the employment scene in August.

The number of jobs added to the economy in the summer month was down by more than 100,000 since the spring, and unemployment crept up to four point three percent – the peak since three years ago.

Alternative Reports Indicate Continued Slowdown

Though the bureau was set to release September’s job market report in the start of last month, it halted its publication once the closure began. Employment data company ADP indicated earlier this month that the business segment eliminated 32,000 jobs in September, a sign that the job market is still decelerating.

“Both the supply and demand for workers has fallen quite sharply,” Fed chair Jerome Powell said earlier this month, which he had previously attributed comes from trade and immigration measures.

Inflation Report Reveals Gradual Rise

Though the bureau’s jobs report has been paused, the bureau still issued its inflation report for last month that showed that costs are going up, albeit gradually. Prices rose three percent over the last year, the peak since the start of the year. In April, the yearly price increase was 2.3%, the minimum it has been since three years ago. The Fed’s target inflation rate is two percent.