Non-Farm Payrolls Data Leaked in Advance? Trump's Social Media "Mishap" Exposes Key Employment Report

January 10 Local time Thursday evening, former U.S. President Donald Trump posted a chart on his social platform Truth Social containing unpublished key U.S. nonfarm payroll data—shared nearly a day ahead of the official release—sparking market and public attention. The chart showed the U.S. private sector has added 654,000 jobs since January this year, while the government sector cut 181,000 positions. The data was originally set to be officially released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday alongside the December jobs report. The White House later called the disclosure an "inadvertent act" and said it would review the economic data release embargo agreement. White House officials explained the President is legally allowed to receive some economic data in advance, and the chart’s data came in part from a legal pre-briefing—but it should not have been made public during the embargo period. Trump denied responsibility, stating: "Let them [have] the chance to release it." Notably, this isn’t the first time Trump has sparked controversy by hinting at or disclosing nonfarm payroll data early. From a market standpoint, U.S. stock index futures only saw minor fluctuations during low-volume trading after the incident, with no major anomalies. Analysts have warned such incidents could erode market trust in the neutrality and credibility of U.S. official economic data. KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk noted premature leaks of sensitive data can disrupt market fairness and push investors to "parse the President’s social media signals" before official release, thus increasing volatility risk.