Banks Obtained Key Jobs Revisions Data While Report Was Delayed

(Bloomberg) — At least three banks managed to get advanced word on Wednesday’s hotly anticipated payroll numbers while the rest of Wall Street was kept waiting by an unexpected delay.

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After the Bureau of Labor Statistics failed to post its revisions to the monthly payroll figures at 10 a.m. New York time, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and BNP Paribas SA both called the department and got the number directly. So did Nomura Holdings Inc.’s economic research team, according to a person familiar with the situation.

When the data was released soon after 10:30 am, it showed payrolls will likely be revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months through March, the steepest markdown to the job numbers since 2009. That’s what traders were looking for, since it lent support to widespread speculation that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates next month.

“Knowing the data was delayed we had to call for the number before it showed up on their website,” said Steven Ricchiuto, Chief US Economist at Mizuho.

Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior US Economist BNP Paribas, said she kept refreshing the web page, waiting for the numbers. Then “we called the public line a couple times and they gave us the number,” she said.

A spokesperson for Nomura declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Labor Statistics didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a post on X, the agency said it was “looking into the reason for the delay.”

Wednesday’s mishap is the latest in a series of snafu’s dealing with Labor Department data. In May the BLS inadvertently published Consumer Price Index data to its website about 30 minutes ahead of its official release. A month before that it was reported that an economist from the BLS had answered numerous inquiries from major Wall Street firms like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BlackRock Inc. on details of data related to the consumer price index.

Once the payroll data was publicly released Wednesday, the S&P 500 jumped before later giving up the gain. Bonds went on to extend their advance, with two-year Treasuries yields sliding about 6 basis points on the day to around 3.92%.

Others across Wall Street also attempted to contact the Labor Department to get the delayed data.

“We called BLS to get the number,” said Julia Coronado, founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives LLC and former Fed economist. “They thought it was posted but it was not so it seems like there was a technical glitch.”

–With assistance from Sydney Maki, Jessica Menton and Jeran Wittenstein.

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