NEW YORK (AA) – American macroeconomic data may be have been “leaked” before their official release, the European Central Bank (ECB) claimed in a report Monday.
The bank said information about seven out of a total of 21 key economic indicators with the potential to move the stock market led to “substantial informed trading” in the market.
Experts looked at price movements in the U.S. stock market indexes half hour before the release of the data between January 2008 and March 2014.
“The pre-announcement price drift accounts on average for about half of the total price adjustment. These results imply that some traders have private information about macroeconomic fundamentals,” the report said.
The ECB said the leaked data included information regarding consumer confidence, existing and pending home sales, preliminary GDP reports, industrial production and non-manufacturing and manufacturing indexes.
The ECB estimates more than $20 million could have be made by using the information and trading on the Standard & Poor’s 500 futures index alone, since 2008.
