It Takes a Lot to Keep Inflation Data Secret, Including NDAs

  • Access to report is tightly controlled before release
  • Trading surge preceded data; officials say no evidence of hack

Shoppers in San Francisco.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The data are so important, staff were once instructed to have no facial expressions when walking the reports into the West Wing of the White House.

And yet, a surge in trading last week in the minutes before the release of the consumer price index — a closely watched US inflation measure — spurred concerns the figures fell into the wrong hands.