Bloomberg has become synonymous with investment data in many parts of the financial world. Bloomberg claims that the Bloomberg Terminal “revolutionized an industry” by bringing transparency into financial markets. It is still at the forefront of innovation, information, and delivery. It has quick access to data, news uni, queue insights, and trading tools that help leading decision-makers put knowledge into Action. ” 1 Not only is it a media and news outlet, but it also offers a software/hardware platform that many, if not all, professional money managers use.
How to Use Bloomberg Terminal
This system provides access to all the historical and current information about these market sectors. It’s a good idea, because of the depth and breadth of information available, to focus on certain functions and data. This can help make the terminal feel less overwhelming.
Innumerable features are also available. The system has a wide range of capabilities.
We have compiled a list that includes five categories of functions.
News
To access the top business or general headlines, type TOP and hit. Type TOP to access the most recent business and available headlines. 5 A toolbar will appear at the top of the screen, followed by a command area where you can type new commands, the main function area, which contains all the required information, and a panel with information at the bottom.
Company Information
You can enter a command in the EQUITY (F8) function to find a description of a company, its current and historical price data, news, graphs, and information about the corporate structure, credit ratings, capital structures, comparison companies, and regulatory filings. You can also view analyst recommendations, bond information, and earnings estimates.
M&A Data
The MA function can be used to find deal data and details. 7 To search for a particular company, enter the name of the company in the “Company Search Box” at the top. The output contains all of the deal terms.
Investment Screening
Type EQS and hit GO to build a list with securities that meet the specified criteria. You can then select criteria that meet the parameters you set. 6 The available criteria are listed in categories such as exchanges, sectors, and indices. The results are displayed in a table. You can change the results by clicking Edit Criteria. Like many other outputs from Bloomberg, this output can be exported to Excel.
Industries
Type BI to analyze industries top-down. Here, you can find everything from industry primers and high-level data to specific data.
How to get Bloomberg-like data without Bloomberg
It is not available to most individual investors. You may find a Bloomberg terminal in a university or public library. If you cannot get one, there are publically available alternatives that provide similar information. Be aware that these alternatives may not offer the same depth or breadth of knowledge. You may need to create your information mosaic.
In this year, the first Bloomberg Terminal that was run on a PC provided by the customer was released. 4
You can find financial news easily on most financial websites. You can find company information via the SEC Edgar for regulatory filings or through the companies’ websites. Finviz.com and msn.com are two websites that can help you screen investments. M&A data is more difficult to find. Online, some deal data is available. However, most of it requires a fee. For a fee, you can also compile industry data from different sources. This includes independent analysts.
What is the cost of the Bloomberg Terminal?
Bloomberg terminals cost around $2400 per year or $2,000 per month for a standard license.
Is Bloomberg Terminal a Real Terminal?
Bloomberg Terminal used to be a standalone device. Subscribers can now download the software and run it on a PC or Mac.
Can regular investors use the Bloomberg Terminal?
Anyone who wants to can use Bloomberg’s software. Due to its high cost, however, it is mainly used by professional traders.
The Bottom Line
Bloomberg is a valuable tool for investors because it offers data all in one place, allows users to customize the data to their liking, analyzes trends, and compares them to other industries and companies. Most importantly, Bloomberg lets you analyze the history of your investment to make an unbiased and detailed analysis.
