How the lack of economic data lockups affects reporting

Greg Robb of MarketWatch.com reports about the effects of no more lockups for economic data by the federal government in the wake of Friday’s delay with inflation data.

Robb reports, “The end of the so-called ‘lock-ups’ for reporters has led to something of a technological arms-race with Wall Street and some in the media vying to be first to get the data from indicator websites. This means headlines created by artificial intelligence.

“Randall Smith, chair of business journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, criticized the Labor Department’s earlier decision to end lockups as ‘not a sign of a market-driven economy that is transparent.’ He called on the new Biden administration to reverse course and allow reporters to have early access.

“‘Artificial intelligence doesn’t replace the ability of people to see trends that are not only important to markets but to the public,’ Smith said.

“If the delay was a problem of technology, it should be fixed. If it was a new policy of some sort, it needs to be challenged, he added,

“One disadvantage is that the thousands of banks, funds, investors and media around the world accessing the website fight to be first to ‘scrape’ the data from the website which may mean some get an advantage in timing trades based on the data.”

Read more here.