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Bloomberg, the markets data and media service, is facing widespread issues that are preventing traders from accessing live pricing and disrupting an auction of UK government debt.
Users on Wednesday morning complained that the $28,000-a-year Bloomberg terminal service was running with significant delays and that the absence of live pricing was preventing them from carrying out trades.
Traders and investors have become highly reliant on the company’s distinctive black and orange terminals in the 35 years since it was founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
The terminal carries pricing and analytics on stocks and bonds around the world and is widely used by traders and bankers to exchange messages, making it one of the global financial system’s main arteries.
“We’ve been told not to trade. I can’t remember this level of non-functioning,” said one London-based fund manager on Wednesday.
“Would you bet on a match that you can’t see or know the score,” another said, adding that trading volumes were lower as a result.
The outage disrupted an auction of UK government debt, with the Debt Management Office extending the bidding time.
“We expect the close time of the auction bidding window to be 11.30am, subject to Bloomberg systems issues being resolved,” said the DMO.
Traders said that Bloomberg’s instant messaging service — known as IB — was still functioning as normal. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Bloomberg help desk posted a message at 9.55am on Wednesday, which said: “We’re currently experiencing a global terminal issue, and our engineering team is actively working to identify and resolve the problem.”
“I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and we truly appreciate your patience and understanding in the meantime,” it added.
By 10.15am on Wednesday, some market participants reported that their service had been partially restored, with prices, albeit with a lag. But one investor said it was a mixed picture, with some terminals working and some not at their institution.
One portfolio manager at a large asset manager complained that not only trades, but his whole workflow, was disrupted due to the outage.
“This is so frustrating . . . I am unable to run my day to day process. Not only trades, I have a presentation coming up where I need spreadsheets that are Bloomberg based to work,” he said.
Additional reporting by Mari Novak and Rob Smith
