Informational Content of Government Hogs and Pigs Reports

We examine the value of the informational content of quarterly government reports which estimate forthcoming supplies of hogs and pigs. It is assumed that a hypothetical futures trader obtains the government reports one day in advance of their release. A futures market trading rule is established which uses early access to the reports together with a priori expectations of the reports' contents. We find the market information in the government reports is of little or no value to a futures trader in advance of the release date because this information is already incorporated in the futures price.