Bloomberg Basics

KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS
<HELP>
<HELP><HELP>
context sensitive help
contact Bloomberg Help Desk
<HOME> move to command line at top of screen
<MENU> returns to previous level
<PANEL> toggles between the two screens (alternatively click mouse on screen)
<PRINT> screen print
<TAB> allows parameters to be changed in tables & graphs
MARKET SECTOR KEYS AND FREQUENTLY USED CODES
<EQUITY> <GO> stocks
<CMDTY> <GO> commodities
<CORP> <GO> bonds
<CRNCY> <GO> currency
<INDEX> <GO> indices and economics
<GOVT> <GO> government issues
full list
QUICK SEARCH
To quickly search for a term:
type term <HELP> <GO>

examples: stelco <HELP> <GO>
yield curves <HELP> <GO>
league tables <HELP> <GO>
SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION ON EQUITIES
To look up a company's ticker symbol:
type <EQUITY> TK companyname <GO>

example: <EQUITY> TK alcan <GO>
* all matching securities are displayed
* CN = Canadian country code - complete list of country codes
* select the security that best matches
Common names are abbreviated in the Bloomberg ticker search function:
use: AMER for American
BRIT for British
CAN for Canada (Canadian)
CONS for Consolidated
GEN for General
EURO for European
INTL for International
* complete list of company abbreviations
SHORTCUTS
If you know the companys ticker symbol you can go straight to the display:
example: IBM <EQUITY> <GO> for IBM

DFS
CN
<EQUITY> <GO>
for
Dofasco



Canadian company
Function codes may be included in the string:
example: NOR CN <EQUITY> HP <GO>
for
Noranda




historical price table


Other useful function codes:
CN
DES*
FA*
GP
HP
RV*
BQ*
RELS*
ERN*
DVD*
EE*
BETA*
WACC*
company news
company description
financial analysis
historical price graph
historical price table
relative value against competitors
composite overview
related securities e.g. debt
earnings per share
dividend splits
earnings estimates
BETA ratio
Weighted Average Cost of Capital
* HBA finance class
COMPARISONS
Compare any security against another security or index:
type COMP <GO>
use TAB key to enter bloomberg codes
press <GO> when finished
* <PAGE> forward for price, dividend and return tables
* right click on image to save
Relative Value
type RV to compare against competitors and the industry average
SAVING IMAGES
Graphs can be saved in .tif format: (readable by Windows programs)
right-click on the image
save screen
name file and save to A:
Graphs can also be emailed
display graph
type GRAB <GO>
enter email address

UPDATE - EXPORTING DATA
Much of the data in Bloomberg can be exported into Excel.
Example One: Simple Price and Volume Data for one company
Example Two: Net Income for a list of companies.
Example Three: Fundamentals for two companies.

NEWS
News stories are sorted by company, industry and country:
type N <GO> display Bloomberg News
press <TAB> to search for news categories
Search through News Headlines:
type 25 <GO>
<TAB> enter keyword <GO>
press 1 <GO>
* the first 99 stories are searched, press <PAGE DOWN> to continue through the next
99 stories

If you know the ticker symbol you can go directly to company news:
type ticker <EQUITY> CN <GO>



company news code
example: DELL <EQUITY> CN <GO>
USEFUL BLOOMBERG CODES
ECST world economic indicators
FXC key currency rates
N news headlines
MST most active trades
WEI world equity indices