What is Bloomberg?

Bloomberg has data on more than 5 million bonds, equities, commodities, currencies, and funds. It covers most every publicly traded company in the world, and has profiles on more than a million people.

Navigation in Bloomberg is via a decentralized, command driven system. Securities are organized by market silos and can be access via drilling down a series of menus or by entering a command. Commands to retrieve information are represented by codes

Being a decentralized database, there are three things to keep in mind:

  • Hierarchical nature of information, but not "main" menu.
  • Each market is its own "silo."
  • With use of a command, you can jump from silo to silo.

decentralized bloomberg

With more than 25,000 codes, the key to becoming an expert Bloomberg user is to:

  • Memorize the codes you use most often and
  • Know how to get help in Bloomberg to find new codes.

Bloombert Syntax

Learning how to put a command together in Bloomberg is similar to learning another language.  The example below provides the basic structure of a command.

Bloomberg syntax example. JNJ, plus equity key, plus cn, plus go key. Ticker, plus market key, plus code, plus go key. Jones, plus butcher key, plus steaks, plus buy key

Functions of interest

  • USER Functions for your workflow allows you to choose a market player and then view the top Bloomberg functions important for that role.
  • BHL Bloomberg Help and Learning for training on launchpad, Excel API, and specific markets
  • BI for industry analysis covering a number of industries such as pharma, energy, financials, etc.
  • BCER and UNI include training modules such as Bloomberg Market Concepts 8-hour training course covering 70 functions across equities, fixed income, economics, and currencies. 
  • BPS Bloomberg resource center for quick guides on market sectors and include top functions
  • BRIE Periodic news and updates from Bloomberg on economics, investing, deals, and regulation.
  • BTMM for key rates
  • ECO find upcoming and past ecomomic releases
  • EQS Equity screening
  • EVTS Events calendar
  • FXGN Foreign exchange rates
  • GLCO Global commodity prices & data
  • HDSK to retrieve Help desk messages
  • JOBS to view job listings
  • LEAG League tables
  • MSG the Bloomberg message system
  • NIM for new issues
  • SRCH Bond Search
  • TOP to get news from around the world updated constantly and can be filtered by topic, language, and date
  • WECO for world economic releases
  • WEI world equity indicies lists the benchmark indicies by geography

These functions provide a market level view or are not tied to one specific security. Because of this, you do not use a yellow market key with them. For example, WEI <GO> will take you directly to a listing of major indicies worldwide. 

Take a look at BHL <GO> for Bloomberg Help and Learning to discover the newest functions and guides. 

HELP

Bloomberg help is available via email. Hit the green <HELP> key twice and a window will open with an option to type in your question and send it to a Bloomberg support specialist.

 

To request help from a librarian, contact us and we would be happy to assist you.

Create an Account

All students and faculty must create a Bloomberg login to access the system. To create an account, go to any Bloomberg terminal on campus and follow the steps below.

TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT:
Step 1: When the system is logged out, press <GO> without entering a username or password. Select the option to create an account.
Step 2: Provide your cell phone number so they can text you a code to start the process.
Step 3: Follow the prompts on screen to create your account. This account will work on all of the Bloomberg terminals on campus.

Bloomberg login screen


Bloomberg login screen or create a new account


First steps to creating an account

TO LOG-OUT:
Step 1: Press the red <CONN/DFLT> key in the upper right of the keyboard.
Step 2: There is no step 2. You are good to go.

Where is Bloomberg?

There are Bloomberg terminals in the following libraries:

  • Management
  • Hotel
  • Mann
  • Law

Each library has its own rules regarding usage. Johnson students can also access Bloomberg in the Parker Center.

Check to see if there are sign-up sheets, time limits, or even limits on who can use the terminal at the library circulation desk.

News

The news feeds in Bloomberg are one of its most popular features.

TOP <GO> - to get to the top news screen. From here you can specify what kind of news items you want to view.
READ <GO>- to view the most popular news stories on Bloomberg.
CN - to view company news. For example JNJ <EQUITY> CN <GO>

Click on the headline to view a story. You can also email or download the stories.

Workshop

The attached questions will navigate you through the different ways you can find information in Bloomberg as well as give you a sample of what types of information is available. 

Contact us to find out more about our workshops.