According to a working paper by three SMU Assistant Professors of Finance Tang Yuehua, Hu Jianfeng and Gennaro Bernile, the Federal Reserve's procedures for locking up market-moving information look pretty leaky. Analysing high frequency data from the late 1990s through June 2013, the researchers found “robust evidence of informed trading” during the period when members of the news media had access to sensitive Fed monetary policy releases but before they were made public. They concluded their results “raise serious questions about the appropriateness of FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] policy announcements’ embargoes,” either because information seems to be leaking directly from reporters or from other Fed insiders during the embargo period. The paper’s findings could add fuel to discussions within the White House and government agencies about whether to make significant changes to procedures for releasing market-moving information.