Bloomberg Tools for Financial Analysis

Bloomberg is a leader in providing market data from around the world through its proprietary terminal, websites, and apps. Finance professionals rely on the company's free and paid services to conduct research and support their trading activities. In this article, we discuss some of the top Bloomberg tools available and how they can be used in financial analysis.

Bloomberg Website

The Bloomberg website offers a wealth of free and subscription-based tools and utilities, most of which offer customized views in each region or market.

• News: Top headlines and market-moving news from all corners of the financial world.
• Markets: A must-read section covering the financial markets and the events that drive them.
• Wealth: Important features on personal finance, retirement planning, taxes, etc.
• Watchlist: A personalized portfolio tracker to keep tabs on your investments.
• Radio and Podcasts: Bloomberg content but in audio form, great for people of the move.
• Other Tools: Bloomberg also covers politics and trending topics such as the environment, equality, and urban issues.

Bloomberg Newsletters

These daily and weekly newsletters cover a host of financial topics, some of which are exclusive to Bloomberg subscribers. Some of the topics include:

• Market opening and closing reports
• Regional reports from the Americas, Asia, and Europe
• Environmental news and green finance
• Technology reports and insights
• Hollywood and Silicon Valley

Symbol Lookup Service

The Bloomberg Open Symbology tool allows users to search and map different symbols (for example, a SEDOL, CUSIP number, ISIN, a stock exchange ticker, etc.) in use around the world.

Individual traders and investment firms use this service to consolidate data that arrives from multiple sources with different symbols. For example, a mutual fund company might have two different data feeds: one from Bloomberg containing a Bloomberg symbol and the other from a stock exchange containing a local ticker. The Symbology service enables cross-referencing to validate data across the two sources. Another feature is its dedicated symbol search tool.

Bloomberg Professional Services

At the heart of Bloomberg's paid services is the Bloomberg terminal, which has an installed base of 325,000 units globally. The Bloomberg terminal connects users with markets, tools, and data feeds from around the world. It is supported by a news-gathering operation that employs more than 2,700 journalists in 120 countries. The terminal also provides access to sell-side research and independent research from more than 1,500 sources.

Apart from charts, graphs, technical indicators, and market data coverage, a key selling point of the Bloomberg terminal is its instant messaging feature which enables easy communication across individuals, dedicated workgroups, and Bloomberg representatives.

Other aspects of Bloomberg Professional Services include execution and order management; content and data feeds; financial data management; data integration and distribution; and the Bloomberg Tradebook, which provides access to 125 markets in 43 countries.

The Bottom Line

Bloomberg is a world leader in providing financial information. While the vast majority of market information is freely available online, professional investors have come to depend on Bloomberg for their financial analysis and trading needs.