How to: Bloomberg: Getting Started

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.

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.

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.

• 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.