WATCH: Bloomberg Reporter Asks If Biden WH Thinks Inflation Data ‘Leaked’ Because Stock Market Jumped Ahead of Release

Bloomberg White House correspondent Nancy Cook asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if the White House believes an inflation report “was leaked” because of “big market movement” before the release.

On Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a CPI (Consumer Price Index)  report that showed lower-than-expected inflation for the month of November, and those expectations fueled a surge in Dow futures and other market activity in the minutes before the report came out.

At Tuesday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre pushed back as Cook repeatedly asked if the White House or Treasury Department had concerns the data may have been leaked:

MS. COOK: I wonder if the White House is worried that the inflation data, which came out this morning, was leaked. There was big market movement about two minutes before its — it came out, and I’m just wondering how the White House has viewed that.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, I’ve seen those — that reporting. Look, you know, I think — we think that it’s — it’s being a little bit — how do I say? It’s — you know, I think there’s too much — too much weight being put into that and, you know, in how the market may have moved in a minor way.

You know, I don’t — I don’t really have much more to add to that, but I have seen the reports on it. And again, I think it’s just being a little bit — we’re looking into it a little bit too much, I think.

MS. COOK: But is the White House and Treasury looking into it at all, or are you just not worried about it?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think that — look, when it — I can tell you this: There were no leaks from here. I can tell you defi- — definitively. Or at least I’m not aware of any leaks. And I know there were very strict security protocols to prevent leaks.

But I think, again, people may be reading a little bit too much into this — into some of the minor market movements. And so, anything more, I would — I would refer you to the Department of Labor.

In its article on the exchange between Cook and Jean-Pierre, Bloomberg did not cite evidence of a leak, but noted “Over a 60-second period before the data went out, 13,518 March 10-year futures traded, pushing down Treasury yields prior to the release of the consumer price index report at 8:30 a.m. in New York.”

Watch above via The White House.