Bloomberg experienced a service disruption today (Wednesday), causing delays in financial market data and affecting trading activity. The issue began around 9:30 a.m. and lasted for about 90 minutes. By 11 a.m., users reported that services had started to return to normal, Financial Times reported.
Live Data Failure Halts Bloomberg Terminal
The outage impacted Bloomberg’s terminal system, which provides real-time pricing and analytics. Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision-making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to forecast the price more accurately. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision-making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to forecast the price more accurately. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes.
Many users were unable to access live data, forcing some traders to halt activity. The system is used by banks, asset managers, and other market participants around the world.
In a statement, Bloomberg said: “Our systems are returning to normal operations and Terminal functionality has been restored following a service disruption earlier today.”
Pricing Data Loss Disrupts Sovereign Sales
The problem also affected UK and EU government bond auctions. The UK Debt Management Office extended the bidding window for a gilts sale by 90 minutes. The European Commission also delayed the deadline for an EU bond auction by one hour.
Two large investment banks confirmed the disruption to their trading desks. One source said that traders could not access pricing data during the UK gilts auction and were unable to take client orders.
BREAKING: A major Bloomberg Terminal outage is rippling across global financial markets.Halting live pricing, delaying the UK debt auction, and leaving traders flying blind. One of the worst disruptions in recent memory.
You may find it interesting at FinanceMagnates.com: Bloomberg Terminal Outage Brings Substantial Drop in Trading Volumes.
Traders Use Messaging Amid Bloomberg Disruption
Despite the pricing data failure, Bloomberg’s instant messaging service, known as IB, continued to function. This allowed some traders to communicate and agree on deals to be settled later.
Bloomberg first acknowledged the issue in a message. It stated: “We’re currently experiencing a global terminal issue, and our engineering team is actively working to identify and resolve the problem.”
Bloomberg terminals are widely used across the financial services industry. Alternatives such as LSEG’s Workspace and FactSet exist, but Bloomberg holds a dominant market position. The company’s service costs around $28,000 per year per user.