Labor Agency Lets Data Slip Out Early

For the second time in less than three months, the Labor Department let market-sensitive economic data accidentally slip onto its Internet site ahead of the release time.

The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics posted December’s Producer Price Index, which measures prices charged for goods by factories and other producers, at about 10 p.m. PST Tuesday, said William Parks, special assistant to the bureau’s commissioner, Katharine G. Abraham.

It was not supposed to be publicly released until 8:30 a.m. today.

The report was posted on a little-used archival page on the bureau’s site, Parks said. After about an hour, a bureau employee discovered it and it was removed, he said. After the stock market closed, the bureau notified news agencies and reposted it at about 2 p.m. PST.

Labor Department reports, ranging from the monthly unemployment rate to inflation figures, can set off frenzied trading on Wall Street, depending on whether they contradict traders’ views on the economy.

This report, showing a 0.4 percent increase in prices, the largest in 15 months, was mildly surprising to analysts, who expected around a 0.3 percent rise.

It was unclear how many people viewed the report during trading.