Bloomberg terminals used by subscribers to make trades using real-time developments in business and finance were struck by a "global network problem" for several hours Friday, the company said.
After users in financial centres around the world flocked to Twitter to complain of the unexpected outage of terminals, Bloomberg technicians began repair operations that started bringing some blanked terminals back on line at around 0945 GMT.
"Significant but not all parts of our network experienced a disruption today," a Bloomberg spokesman said to AFP in an message emailed to AFP at around 1145 GMT.
"We have restored service to most customers and are making progress in bringing all parts of the network back online. We apologise to our customers."
Despite that improving access situation, Bloomberg still appeared unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the blackout that began hours before.
It is little wonder that business and finance professionals in financial capitals like London, Singapore and New York noticed the Bloomberg breakdown immediately -- and began expressing their concern over it on social media posts just as fast.
Bloomberg terminals feed movements of global equity, commodity, foreign exchange and derivative markets to worldwide subscribers. Many of those are themselves traders and strategists in the global financial sector, and consider the service an essential tool.
When their screens went blank, many of those professionals were left without information they require to do business -- including the terminal's application many use to make trades.
"(The outage) is really disruptive for everyone," said London-based Natixis bond strategist Rene Defossez, who is responsible for working daily forecast and advisory models.
"Those function using Bloomberg data, which makes this a real problem."
'Waiting to connect'
Breakdowns in the Bloomberg system are extremely rare, and many finance professionals found themselves stranded and stunned when their screens went blank.
Trading volumes in Europe were down due to the breakdown, analysts said, and the British government was forced to postpone an emission of Treasury bills as it uses Bloomberg's bidding system.
Bloomberg is not the only provider of real-time financial information, with rivals like Thomson-Reuters offering alternative data feeds.
Yet Bloomberg has become the leader and default resource for a majority of finance professionals.
"Those who work with American investors prefer Bloomberg," says Xavier de Villepion, a stock broker with HPC in Paris.
As a result of Bloomberg's dominance, said Alastair McCaig, a London-based market analyst for online brokerage IG, the effects of its terminals going blank Friday were apparent right away.
"Bloomberg, normally a byword for dependability, has been hit with technical issues this morning," McCaig said. "As a consequence trading volumes are a little lower in the early session."
Friday's outage even sent terminals within the Bloomberg group offline, with nothing alighting many screens but the frozen "waiting to connect" message.
"Unfortunately this is a global issue. I also am locked out of my terminal," said a Bloomberg employee contacted by AFP.
AFP
Fri Apr 17 2015
Bloomberg terminals feed movements of global equity, commodity, foreign exchange and derivative markets to worldwide subscribers. - Filepic
Jangan kecam, politikkan penganjuran Jejak Harmoni - Aaron
Kementerian Perpaduan Negara (KPN) berharap penganjuran program Jejak Harmoni yang menyantuni pemimpin agama dan penganut di rumah-rumah ibadat di negara ini tidak dikecam atau dipolitikkan.
Agenda pemantapan tatakelola, integriti jadi asas utama SPRM
SPRM akan memastikan agenda pemantapan tatakelola serta penginstitusian integriti menjadi asas utama selain siasatan kes jenayah rasuah yang menjadi tugas agensi itu.
Bursa Malaysia ditutup tinggi susulan sentimen positif pasaran serantau
Pada 5 petang, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) meningkat 5.91 mata kepada 1,575.16 daripada paras penutup 1,569.25 pada Khamis.
Pasukan sorak Malaysia raih tempat ketiga di Florida
Pasukan sorak Team Malaysia Youth All Girls meraih tempat ketiga divisyen Youth All-Girl Median di International Cheer Union World Junior Cheerleading Championship.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Sekumpulan pakar PBB gesa laluan selamat bagi misi penghantaran bantuan
Sekumpulan pakar dari Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) menggesa agar laluan selamat bagi misi Break The Siege Freedom Flotilla to Gaza pada Jumaat.
Sabah FC berdepan tunggakan sebulan gaji pemain - Pengarah
Sabah FC kini hanya berdepan tunggakan gaji pemain untuk satu bulan setelah usaha dilakukan secara tuntas untuk menyelesaikan masalah pembayaran tunggakan sejak tahun lepas.
Tumpuan Jumaat - 26 April 2024
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan di Astro AWANI.
MYAirline akan terus kekalkan barisan pemegang jawatan, dapatkan pelbagai pelabur
MYAirline Sdn Bhd akan terus mengekalkan barisan pemegang jawatan yang dilantik dan pengurusan utama selain memastikan dokumentasi Sijil Perakuan Pengendali Udaranya (AOC) kekal dalam keadaan terkini.
China sokong Malaysia untuk dapatkan pembangunan yang sesuai dan mainkan peranan dalam arena antarabangsa
China akan memberikan sokongan kepada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim untuk mempromosikan prinsip Malaysia MADANI dalam tadbir urus.
Perasuah semakin licik, perlu sokongan semua pihak terutama media - Azam Baki
Rasuah merupakan jenayah yang unik sifatnya pada masa kini dan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) memerlukan sokongan daripada semua pihak khususnya media untuk membanterasnya.