The Bureau of Labor Statistics provided at least three Wall Street firms with a highly anticipated US jobs number that was delayed on the agency’s website, renewing questions about the procedures for disseminating some of the world’s most sensitive economic information.
On Wednesday, BLS didn’t post closely watched payroll revisions on its site until more than a half hour past its 10 a.m. scheduled publication time in Washington. While most market watchers and news outlets kept refreshing the agency’s web page waiting for it to update, at least three banks — Mizuho Financial Group Inc., BNP Paribas SA and Nomura Holdings Inc. — called the agency and managed to get the numbers before 10:33 a.m., when the data were officially posted online.