The Federal Reserve is in a blackout period ahead of its policy meeting next week, and is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points

Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report is the last job market report before the Federal Reserve meets next week, but the data will be difficult to interpret. With inflation largely moving toward the Fed's target, officials are now more focused on the cooling labor market. Fed Governor Waller said earlier this month that the jobs report was "not easy to interpret," but he expects hurricanes and the Boeing strike to reduce job growth by more than 100,000. The Fed has entered a pre-meeting blackout period and is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at this meeting. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, said policymakers will take the data in stride and continue to focus on lowering interest rates, as current interest rate levels are widely seen as having a dampening effect on the economy. (Jinshi)