WSJ details how markets tend to move before the data
The WSJ today writes about how 118 people are given top UK economic data 24 hours before it's released. In that timeframe, sensitive markets tend to drift in the direction of economic surprises.
The UK stats authorities recommended cutting the time down to 3 hours but the government rejected it.
From the WSJ:
Investors point to several examples in which they believe that traders may have been acting on leaks.
In January, sterling jumped by 0.4% against the dollar in the 30 minutes ahead of inflation numbers. Before the release, some traders talked of a rumor on Twitter that suggested the data would come in at 1.6%, above the 1.4% consensus expectation. It did.
