Updating on Bloomberg - problems

[richard]

Mark,

I've been running tests on Bloomberg and it seems a bit quirky. All the below have been tested at least twice over a few day period.

Working:
PFLCCLEAN:LX
CAC:IND
CCMP:IND
INDU:IND

Not working:
CARCOMM:LX
HSBCINI:LX
HSBBRAD:LX
SX5E:IND
NKY:IND

Your thoughts, the above 2 lists are not complete, it's a sample of some of what I referenced.

Richard

[Mark]

Hi Richard,

I tested the first one you reported as not working: CARCOMM:LX. It retrieved properly for me when I tried. It retrieved a price of 301.04 dated 9/3/08, which is the same as currently showing on Bloomberg's website if you visit it with your browser.

Were you verifying the not-working ones by looking at the prices data type in the Data Register?

[richard]

Mark,

CARCOMM:LX is still not working this morning. OTOH AXACTDO:FP always works and it's in the same portfolio.

Things never get to the data register, it bombs out on an error message:

"Could not update any investments", followed by "One or more servers were unable to retrieve any prices"

HSBCINI:LX doesn't work either in that portfolio. I update everything individually. If I do a portfolio update, no error messages but no update.

Would you please check out the other and just not the first one. Others in that portfolio do work.

Richard

[Mark]

Hi Richard,

Before we move on to the other symbols, I think it is easiest to debug if we just focus on 1 symbol. If we're both using the same symbol and settings, we should both be able to get the same result. We just have to figure out what is different. I just now retrieved CARCOMM:LX again, and it retrieved properly with a price of 294.20 on 9/4/08.

It should not matter in what sub-portfolio the investment is contained.

Please check these items on your CARCOMM:LX investment:

1) Under "Investment Properties... / General" check that there is no space character before or after the Symbol. You can even erase everything in there, and just re-type it to make sure there are no extra or non-displayed characters.

2) Under "Investment Properties... / Internet Retrieve" verify that "Retrieve Price" is turned on.

3) Under "Investment Properties... / Internet Retrieve" verify that the "Quote Server" is set to "<Default Server>".

4) Under "Options / Internet Settings..." verify that your "Default Quote Server" is set to "Bloomberg". (Note, there is also a "Bloomberg (Historical)", but we just want to be using "Bloomberg".)

5) Under "Help / About..." verify you have "Quote Module" 402.

Once you've verified all of the above, use "Edit / Internet Retrieve / Prices". This will retrieve prices for your whole portfolio. Now, go look at the "Prices" data type in the Data Register for your "CARCOMM:LX" investment. Make sure you are sorting be descending date, so the most recent price is on top. Do you see an updated quote?

[richard]

Mark,

Thanks, the problem seems to have been non-display characters. Retyped things seemed to work.

This also seems to answer a question with respect to our previous discussion concerning the problems with Yahoo. I don't think that it is necessary to implement QUOTE.COM

Bloomberg is more then quite adequate, its coverage is better since Yahoo doesn't seem to cover a bunch of specialized funds and indexes.

Have a good weekend

Richard

[Mark]

Hi Richard,

Great, glad that fixed it. One cause could be if you copy/paste the symbol from your web browser. There can sometimes be non-printable characters in there.

Thanks for looking into this, and your feedback on the server situation. This is helpful.

[richard]

Mark,

The cause was copy/pastes.

Thanks again ,

Richard