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Bloomberg Help Sheet
About Bloomberg: Bloomberg is a database that integrates information, analytics, research and pricing for several market sectors, in addition to providing news and articles, both business and general.
The way to navigate on Bloomberg is to use its menu keys in combination with some command based shortcuts.
Menu keys on
the Bloomberg keyboard
Company Searches
Shortcuts
Menu keys on the Bloomberg keyboard
| Green Navigation Keys | ||
| Go key | enter | use the Go key like you would a return or an enter key on a normal keyboard |
| Menu key | Previous Menu | use the menu key (where the END key is on a normal keyboard) to move back to a prior item |
| Page Forward / Back keys | Page Forward/ Back | Use to navigate through pages of data; or when viewing charts, to see the data used to create the chart |
| Print key | use to print a single page; to print multiple pages, type the number of pages to print and then press the print key | |
| F1 key | Help | useful when you are not sure where to start looking for information. Type keyword or phrase, HELP, and then GO. Hit HELP key once for help screens associated with your current search. Hit HELP key twice to send a message to the Bloomberg Help Desk. Expect an answer in about ten minutes. |
| Yellow Navigation Keys | ||
| F2 | government | Displays list of bonds that match a ticker symbol, coupon, and/or maturity that you select. US government bonds (such as T bonds) and international. |
| F3 | corporate | Use for finding corporate debt, corporate bond prices and yields by company. |
| F4 | mortgage | The mortgage menu includes information about pools and generics. |
| F5 | money markets | Includes programs, which are records that contain the specific issue info. Money markets are for borrowing and lending money for three years or less. The securities in a money market can be US government bonds, Treasury Bills and commercial paper from banks and companies. |
| F6 | municipals | Municipal markets menu contains info about bonds issued by municipalities in the United States. |
| F7 | preferred | Pre-markets covers both public and private securities offered by countries (most US and UK). Types include fixed rate issues, zero coupon issues, floating rate notes, variable rate issues, convertible and warranties. |
| F8 | equity | Displays actual trades and information about US and global stocks (listed and OTC). US equity data goes back to 1980. |
| F9 | commodity | The commodities menu has all exchange listed futures and options contracts of underlying financial and physical products such as gold, wheat, etc. |
| F10 | index | All indicative and/or statistical data and market monitor function are grouped here under specific categories. Two main sections include: markets and leading economic indicators. |
| F11 | currency | Current markets/monitors for global currencies. |
| #PAD 6 key | news | Use the #6 key on the number pad for the News menu. Access to timely general and financial news stories. |
Company Searches
Following these instructions will bring up a menu of types of company information. You can navigate through the menus by typing the number of the option you wish to access and pressing <go>. Note: some of the screens will have ORANGE INPUT BOXES. These are areas where you can click and change the dates or criteria. Press <go> after any changes.
To look up a Company by Ticker Symbol:
Type Ticker Symbol
Press yellow <equity> key
Press green <go> key
The company menu appears with current ticker information on top.
Press yellow <equity> key
Press green <go> key
Choose Finding Equities by Typing 1. Press <go>
Choose Ticker Symbol lookup (by typing two or tk). Press <go>
Type in partial company name and press <go> (start with the
first 3 letters if you don't get results the first time).
Type the line # of your company and press <go>
The company menu appears with current ticker information on top.
To look up a Company's Latest Stock Price:
Type Ticker symbol
Press green <quote 1> key
Or, for more detailed information press green <quote 2> key
Shortcuts
Analytics functions or shortcuts for equities:
To use, follow this syntax: TICKER [F8 yellow equity key] SHORTCUT <go>.
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION |
| BETA | BETA page for your equity |
| CACS | Corporate action calender-good for finding merger information |
| CH1 | Financial Summary |
| CH2 | Income Statements |
| CH3 | Balance Sheets |
| CN | Company news |
| COMP | Comparative returns |
| DES | Description, profile and financial summary |
| DVD | Dividend information |
| EDGR | Edgar filings |
| ERN | Company earnings |
| FA | Fundamental Analysis |
| HH | Hoover's Handbook entry, if it exists |
| HP or GP | Historical Prices or Graphical Historical Prices |
| RV | Relative value of the company compared to others in the same industry |
News Functions:
To use, follow this syntax: SHORTCUT <go>.
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION |
| N | Gives you access to a broad range of categorized news articles |
| NEWS | News search options |
| TOP | Gives you the top Bloomberg news headlines |
| TOPSTK | Stock market news |
| TOPBON | Bond market news |
Equity Index Information:
To use, follow this syntax: SHORTCUT [F10 yellow index key] <go>.
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION |
| BGX | CBOE Biotech Index |
| INDU | Dow Jones Industrial Average |
| UTIL | Dow Jones Utility Average |
| TRAN | Dow Jones Transportation Average |
| COMP | Dow Jones Composite Average |
| NDX | NASDAQ 100 Stock Index |
| CCMP | NASDAQ Combined Composite Index |
| NYA | NYSE Composite Index |
| NN | NYSE Utilities Index |
| NHB | NYSE Beta Index |
| RIY | Russell 1000 Index |
| RTA | Russell 2000 Index |
| RAY | Russell 3000 Index |
| SPX | S & P 500 Index |
| OEX | S & P 100 Index |
| MID | S & P Mid Cap Index |
| SPXT | S & P Transportation |
| SPXF | S & P Financials Index |
| SPXU | S & P Utilities Index |
| SPXI | S & P Industrials Index |
| SML | S & P Small Cap Index |
Economy Functions:
To use, follow this syntax: SHORTCUT <go>.
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION |
| BBSE | Survey of economists on their economic outlook views |
| ECO | Displays a calendar of economic releases (includes a survey) |
| ECST | World economic statistics |
| EIU | Economist Intelligence Unit |
| FOMC | Find out what the Fed is doing |
| WECO | World economic calendar |
Other Frequently Useful Bloomberg Functions / Analytics:
To use, follow this syntax: SHORTCUT <go>.
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION |
| ACDR | Earnings announcement calendar |
| BTMM | Monitor major rates, securities and economic releases for a selected country |
| BU | Menu of Bloomberg tutorials |
| CBQ | Country Quotes |
| ESNP | Economic Statistics Snapshots |
| FMC | Compare fair market sector yield curves |
| GRAB | Email a Bloomberg screen |
| IBQ | Industry Analysis |
| IM | World Market Monitors |
| IMOV | Equity Index movers |
| IYC | International Yield Curves |
| IRSB | Interest rate swap rates |
| JOBS | Listing of employment opportunities |
| LAST | Gives you a list of recently entered commands |
| MA | Mergers and Acquisitions search |
| MMR | Money market rate monitors |
| MOST | Displays the most active stocks for a selected exchange |
| VST | Vital statistics menu |
| WB | World Bond Market |
| WBF | World Bond Futures |
| WEI | Monitor World Equity Indexes |
| WIR | Interest rate futures |
For more help see our Frequently Asked Bloomberg Questions.