The market-moving non-farm payroll revision was delayed by half an hour, while some banks on Wall Street received the data ahead of time

On Wednesday, the preliminary revision of the US non-farm payroll data that moved global markets was not released as planned at 10 am Eastern Time, and the final release was delayed by half an hour. However, at a time when the whole world was eagerly waiting for the data, at least three Wall Street banks had already obtained this crucial information in advance.

According to Bloomberg, the economic research teams of Mizuho Financial Group, BNP Paribas, and Nomura Holdings all called the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and directly received the numbers:

When the data was not released on time, Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior US economist at BNP Paribas, said she kept refreshing the webpage, waiting for the data. After dialing a few public numbers, they provided the data.

Steven Ricchiuto, Chief US Economist at Mizuho, took a similar approach. "Knowing that the data was delayed, we had to call for the numbers, and later it appeared on their website."

The news that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics had disclosed the numbers to some companies over the phone quickly spread in the market, leading to anger. Subsequently, other companies and media outlets also scrambled to obtain this data. As the release of the heavyweight data was delayed, market volatility ensued, causing chaos in the trading halls.

An earlier article on Wall Street News mentioned that before the update on the official website of the US Department of Labor, information about a downward revision of 818,000 jobs had already spread on social platforms. Financial website Forexlive cited sources saying that someone personally called the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they told him the number over the phone.

The final data was released around 10:30 am Eastern Time, showing a preliminary downward revision of 818,000 jobs in the US up to March over the past year, the largest downward revision in fifteen years. This number was completely consistent with the previously circulated figure.

The data from the US Department of Labor is crucial and has a significant market impact, especially after the non-farm payroll report in early August fell short of expectations, causing a sharp drop in US stocks and subsequently triggering a historic "Black Monday."

After the official release of the revised non-farm data, both US stocks and bonds rose, as the report supported market predictions of the Federal Reserve starting interest rate cuts next month. Trading volume surged after the data was made public.

A spokesperson for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the agency has notified the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Labor about this incident. "The integrity of data release is the primary mission of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and we are closely reviewing our procedures to ensure that such events do not recur."

In fact, the delayed release of the non-farm payroll revision data and the subsequent gradual disclosure are just the latest in a series of embarrassing mistakes in data releases by the US Department of Labor:

In May this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics inadvertently released the Consumer Price Index data 30 minutes early.

In April this year, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics provided detailed answers to many questions from major Wall Street companies such as JP Morgan and BlackRock regarding key inflation indicators, raising questions about the fairness of accessing economic information Industry insiders have expressed that it is not surprising for people to feel dissatisfied with the recent incident, as the whole situation is filled with a sense of incompetence. Government agencies absolutely cannot selectively release key market-affecting information to some agents and brokers through phone calls, while keeping others in the dark. This goes against the concept of a balanced market built on fairness and accessible information.

In the United States, economic data reports from the federal government were once strictly released to accredited news agencies. However, this practice was abandoned during the COVID-19 pandemic, with various government departments instead simultaneously releasing data to everyone on the internet. Authorities believed that this approach would better protect the security of market dynamic information