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Donald Trump posted some US jobs data for December just hours before the economic report was released, giving traders an early glimpse of the figures that weigh heavily on global capital markets.
The president posted a graphic on his Truth social platform just before 8.30pm New York time on Thursday evening that showed private sector jobs rising by 654,000 by January 2025.
The charts in the slides match data that was not publicly available as of 8.30 a.m. Friday and provided investors with details on how many jobs the world’s largest economy added from October to December.
Trump later Friday rejected criticism of the initial post, saying aides had handed him the data.
“I don’t know if he posted them or not. I said post them whenever you get a chance,” he said. “They gave me some numbers. When people give me things, I post them.”
“The numbers are astonishing,” the president said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly employment report is one of the most closely watched US economic measurements, providing traders with vital information, particularly into the $30tn Treasury market.
Because October and November job growth figures were revised in Friday’s report, and the December figure was new, the graphic posted by Trump provided important details on employment in the final quarter of 2025.
FT analysis indicates that no prior release of data matches that total.
The Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers usually receives BLS data before public release to allow the President’s economic advisers time to prepare a response to the data.
A White House official said Friday afternoon that there had been “inadvertent public disclosure of compiled data that was derived in part from pre-released information”. The official said the White House is “reviewing protocols regarding the release of economic data accordingly”.
Wall Street largely missed the social media posts last night, according to investors. A macro hedge fund portfolio manager said no one noticed the post when it was first published Thursday evening.
While traders followed Trump’s account religiously during the start of his second term, the flood of posts he makes daily has made it difficult for traders to keep up.
The President had previously indicated whether the economic data would be positive or negative before the official data was released, but this is the first time he has posted information where anyone can extrapolate the figures.
“I have to re-watch his damn posts on Truth Social,” the portfolio manager said, adding that in recent months he has automatically deleted alerts that flagged the president’s social media posts straight to his email inbox.
A second trader said the post came after US market hours the night before the release, which would have made it harder for investors to profit even if they had caught the leak.
Still, another investor said the early disclosure had reduced anticipation of the data release. “It makes my life difficult. I know this data comes at a certain time,” the person said. “I guess this means I need to create a Truth Social account.”
Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, said the incident was “unprecedented.”
He said, “No White House has ever leaked such significant market-changing data before. No serious country does that.” Posted Friday morning on social media platform BlueSky.
Trump was criticized in his first term after posting “looking forward to seeing the employment numbers” in a tweet ahead of the 2018 jobs report, which was stronger than forecast.
Traders closely examine the rolling averages from jobs reports from recent months, data that has become especially important recently due to concerns about the accuracy of monthly figures due to the government shutdown in the autumn.
Additional reporting by Claire Jones
