The U.S. government produces vast quantities of data about what's happening in every corner of the economy. Its ability to do so is facing threats, both from long-running challenges and the impact of Trump administration policies.

The S&P 500 posted a 0.27% decline on Wednesday as investors weighed Trump’s scant-on-details trade deal with China as well as an inflation report that outperformed analysts’ expectations. The stock markets dropped on Wednesday despite a seemingly positive development in the trade war between the U.

More: Trump says trade deal with China is 'done;' aides tout 'framework' deal. Economic news. The May inflation reading reflected the first full month of price data since Trump an

President Donald Trump cited new inflation data in continuing to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, calling him a "numbskull" but adding that he won't seek to remove him.

U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his call for the Federal Reserve to push through a major rate cut in the wake of the release of new data Wednesday on consumer inflation. Trump called the May Consumer Price Index a “great” number and wrote on Truth Social that the “Fed should lower one full point.