can someone plz help me with this: ive never used a bloomberg terminal before but i know there are people on my floor who use them. i want to be able to get experience using a bloomberg terminal. i work in a bank’s treasury department and my role is to provide statistical modeling/research to estimate customer behavior inputs in the banks’ hedging and pricing models. (e.g. mortgage prepayment behavior, customer redemption behavior for GIC’s with early redemption options and other investments, analyzing if people behave rationally and redeem when theres an incentive to or prepay when theres an incentive to). so the kind of data i look at is data on swap rates, bank cost of fund rates, data on MBS pools and tranches, etc.) is there any way a bloomberg terminal can help me with my role? i would like to have a reason to ask for access to a bloomberg terminal. thanks so much!
Usually historical prices are a good reason to use Bloomberg. Your statistical models may need to control for other factors so that you can separate behavioral issues from more fundamental or market-pricing issues. This would mean you need that historical data. I don’t see why the info (swap rates, bank cost of fund rates, data on MBS pools and tranches, etc.) wouldn’t be on Bloomberg. Of course, this presumes that you don’t have equally good historical data from another source. I don’t see why your bank wouldn’t want you to develop a better skill set, unless there are issues with how their bloomberg terminal is licensed. Bloomberg has an amazing wealth of information, but the user interface feels like it was designed on a Commodore 64 and hasn’t been substantially updated since the 1980s.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > Bloomberg has an amazing wealth of information, > but the user interface feels like it was designed > on a Commodore 64 and hasn’t been substantially > updated since the 1980s. while I agree with this, old timers hate change, especially when they get use to a system with speed and non mouse functions. you go in there and change it and you can piss some people off. almost better to leave it be. My cable company changed the format of our digital cable setup. Everyone I talk to in the area HATES the new setup… much slower, lost certain very valued functions, etc. the cable company doesn’t seem to care even while people leave just b/c they spent so much money revamping and making it look fancier…
I’m the archetypal old-timer and I think the Bloomberg interface is an embarassment. You pay $1200/month (which is why jimjohn isn’t getting one) for that? Greenwich library has a Bloomberg terminal. Maybe your local library has one?
Is there an open/common bloomberg terminal anywhere in your office. If so at the login screen hit tab tab to create an account. As for banks not wanting to get an Aanywhere terminal for a user, that comes down to price, at a minimum of 18K per year.
In New York, the Science Business and Industry Library on 34th street has a few Bloomberg terminals. Their license doesn’t allow you to download data, but you can certainly learn how to use it. NYSSA has a terminal too, and I think you can download data on that one. Overhauling the interface is a ton of work, I’m sure, especially if they want to make it more modern. In theory, you could give the user the option of which interface to use so that people who are change-averse can continue to use the system as before. In practice, the changes to the interface are likely to be so deep that you will lave very large swaths of incompatible code that would be very expensive to rewrite for a new interface. I do find it annoying at times when interfaces change substantially and I have to completely relearn a system to do what I used to be able to do fine. It’s not that I can’t learn; it’s that I’m usually too busy to relearn a new system and the change makes it a lot more work to get what I’m used to getting quickly (because I know how to do it). However, the Bloomberg interface is so counterintuitive compared to modern interface standards and it isn’t even all that internally consistent. I suspect we may be stuck with Bloomberg the way it is more or less the same way we are stuck with the QWERTY keyboard - there are more efficient alternatives, but we’re locked in by the costs to change. I suspect that interface design is where Capital IQ and other contenders may try to compete with Bloomberg to take away market share. Bloomberg should contract the guys at Apple to do an interface redesign.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Bloomberg should contract the guys at Apple to do > an interface redesign. And Apple would have it done in 6 months and it would be great.
JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bchadwick Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > Bloomberg should contract the guys at Apple to > do > > an interface redesign. > > > And Apple would have it done in 6 months and it > would be great. But they would rerelase it every six months with slightly more functionality and a shinier box
thanks a lot for all the advice guys! there arent any open or common terminal here, people just have it on their own computers i guess. but i will check my old university library and see if they have bloomberg terminals. i live in toronto so i wouldnt be able to go to the NY libraries recommended.
fyi - bloomberg is working on implementing a new interface.
If you want general knowledge on the terminal, hit “BU” + and do the Certification program. Its great because you spend some hours just screwing around ont eh terminal and it really gets you up to speed quickly in other areas. Willy
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In New York, the Science Business and Industry > Library on 34th street has a few Bloomberg > terminals. Their license doesn’t allow you to > download data, but you can certainly learn how to > use it. NYSSA has a terminal too, and I think you > can download data on that one. I have used the SIBL - B’Berg terminal’s. They have 3 of them. Saturday morning hours you wil get only 2, because I occupy the 3rd one 