An economist from the Bureau of Labor Statistics corresponded on data related to a key US inflation gauge with major Wall Street firms like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BlackRock Inc., raising questions about equitable access to economic information.
The BLS economist answered numerous inquiries about details within the consumer price index in recent months, mostly related to computations in key categories within shelter as well as used cars, according to records requested by Bloomberg.
The back and forth between the financial firms and the economist, who has been with the BLS for many years, was first reported by the New York Times. He sent several emails to a broader group, which he called “my super users” in one of the emails obtained by Bloomberg. The BLS has said it doesn’t maintain a list of “super users.”
In mid-February, one user asked if they could be added to the “super user email list,” to which the BLS economist replied minutes later, “Yes I can add you to the list.”
While the recipients’ names were redacted from the request, email signature details or disclosures from their employers were visible in some of the provided records.
In addition to BlackRock and JPMorgan, other banks, hedge funds and research firms — Brevan Howard, Millennium Capital Partners LLP, Citadel, Moore Capital Management, High Frequency Economics, Nomura Securities International and BNP Paribas — appeared in the exchanges and declined to comment. Pharo Management and Wolfe Research also came up in the emails but didn’t provide comment.
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