U.S. Business Inventories Data to be Released Live on Website Rather than Through Media Lockup

A technology problem at the Labor Department, where the government releases certain economic data to the media, could cause a short delay in reporting business inventories figures Thursday. The business inventories report is prepared by the Commerce Department.

As result of the technology issue, the Commerce Department will only release the economic data live on its website rather than providing an advance copy to the media.

The inventories report will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern time on the agency's site.

Typically for this and other reports, the government shares the data with media organizations, including Dow Jones Newswires, shortly before the public release. These closed briefings, called lockups, allow reporters to prepare headlines and stories to be released concurrently with the public disclosure of the data.

Thursday's lockup, which would have been held at the Labor Department, has been canceled.

Write to Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2017 10:04 ET (15:04 GMT)