Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    Sounds like you want Lotus Signal End-of-day service.
    
    $55/month, quotes on almost everything (stocks, funds, futures,
    options...).  Plus a nontrivial account setup charge circa $600.
    
    There are other services too, but they tend to require satellite dish
    or dialup charges, which for the "whole market" you mentioned probably
    will run more than the monthly Signal costs.
    
      John

    
    I've been trying "Stock Market Database" (SMD) for a couple
    of months or so.  They supposedly track about 4300 stocks,
    and allow free price downloads nightly.
    
    The jury is still out on whether they deliver on what they
    promise; the cost is $114/year, which gives you the 
    privelege of nightly price downloads, plus an enormous 
    amount of fundimental data on each of the 4400-or-so stocks,
    extending back as many as 8 years.
    
    You do not get access to the data itself (for your own
    purposes outside of SMD, that is), unfortunately.
    
    So far there have been numerous problems with SMD and with
    the organization that puts it out...  but so far they seem
    willing to fix the problems, so I'm not selling them short
    just yet.  ;)
    
       /Jim
    

Re: -.1

How do you contact that service (phone number, address, etc)?


Also, any future replies describing services should always include
information on how to conect them if possbile.


Thanks!

One source of after hours quotes and some basic charting software is
Worden Brothers in Durham, NC, (800)776-4940. Their product is called
TeleChart 2000.

Their software is only $19.00, they make their money selling you data
over an 800 number after the market closes. Their basic rate is 1 1/4
cents per quote for the first 50 quotes on a download and 1/2 cent per
quote thereafter. They have a flat rate of 1/4 cents per quote on 500
or more stocks at 2400 baud. Historical quotes are available at 1/2
per quote per day. The data they provide is daily high, low, close, 
and volume. This ends up costing $12.42 per month for 45 stocks loaded
daily and $5.85 for the same data if updated once a week. You can
spend a fair amount of money loading historical data, so you have to
control your urge to download and follow every stock someone
recommends.

I use this service and am basically very happy with it.	I would be
interested in hearing from others using this service, perhaps we could
share some historical data, and perhaps we could write a few utilities
to do data screening and what not.

Dow Jones News Service has a flat rate service that can be accessed
after 9 PM daily and all weekend for $25.00 per month. You can access
news stories on stocks, get daily quotes, and get 1 yr of daily
historical data on stocks. Dow Jones sells some software that can
access this data and some third party software like Metastock
Downloader can also access this data. There may be some public domain
software that also can grab this data, and you probably could just use
a terminal emulator, perhaps with some scripts and some post
processing. The service is oriented for interactive terminal use, it
is not optimum as a quote service for a larger number of stocks, but
it can be used for this. Others with experience might want to comment
on this service.

If you want to follow large numbers of stocks daily, say over 1000
then something like Signal Afterhours Service for about $60.00 per
month seems like the cheapest route. I believe you need software like
Metastocks Downloader to use this data. This service does not provide
historic quotes, you have to get each days data before the next
market day or you lose it. Again others with actual experience with
this service might want to comment on it.

If you want to track just the stocks you own and a small number of
prospective candidates, plus some market indicators, my current
belief is that Worden Brothers service is hard to beat.


Rich

    
    re: SMD  
    
        see note 73.  The number has changed to 305-491-5100
    

    Another way to obtain electronic quotes is via the QQUOTE service on
    CompuServe.  The per quote price recently dropped to 1 1/2 cents. 
    Though that's not a low as previously noted the service does offer the
    advantage of direct connection to CONEWS (Company News) with up-to-date
    news stories on the quoted company.
    
    I've actually got the entire process completely automated so that I
    minimize my connect time.  It works very well.  Of course having a PC
    at home greatly aids this process.

	I subscribed to Worden, but I haven't downloaded any histories yet.

	License price is now $29 + $3 s&h.  They've simplified charging:
	1/2� per quote, less for quotes older than a year.  Also, they
	give $15 "free" usage with the program.
	
	It looks like a convenient way to maintain price histories, and to
	do all that "charting" stuff.

	They sent 10 histories: IBM, Microsoft, Boeing, Apple, Amgen, Fid.
	Magellan, etc.  The available stocks seem somewhat conservative;
	e.g. I didn't see Denning Mobile Robotics or Scriptel Systems...

	The charts look nice, though I have only a 12" mono monitor.  (Their
	software refuses to run if you tell it you have a mono monitor, so I
	lied and told it I have EGA.  When it starts, it fails to show its
	main menu's text, but after displaying a chart, the menu displays ok.)

	It can plot a number of different indicators, most of which are
	meaningless to an ignorant fundamentalist like me.  If anyone's
	interested, I'll enter their names.  (I plotted a couple of "trend
	lines" on IBM.  All I saw were a couple of straight lines, with
	strong downward slopes.  So big deal.)

	There are a few small penny-scrounging gotchas in the charging scheme.

	F'instance, they charge a minimum of 69� for each phone call.  At 1/2� 
	per quote, you have to get 140 quotes to make each call worthwhile.

	They download The Worden Report free when you call in for quotes,
	which is nice.  But the Report's lifetime is only 3 days, i.e. there's
	a new issue every 3 days.  So you miss issues if you call in less 
	often.  (47 stocks every 3 days to get your 69� worth...)

	You can add and remove stocks to and from your list, which starts with
	the 10 they send with the program.  If you remove a stock, you lose
	all its data, so that if you change your mind and add it back later,
	you have to download all its data again.

	The program downloads new data on all the stocks in your list.  That
	is, you cannot tell it a subset of stocks to download.  Simple, but
	not tunable.  (There _is_ a "hot list", but I haven't checked out
	what it is.  Maybe it is indeed a subset, but I think it is only a
	display shortcut.)

	If you add a stock to your list, you have first to update the old
	list before downloading the new stock.  Then, the program insists on
	getting a year's history for the new stock.  (I _think_ this is true.)
	That is, you cannot get the latest month or two.  They charge $1.50 
	for the preceding year's quotes, less for older quotes.  So if you 
	replace all of the 10 they send, your first update consumes the $15
	"free" useage.

	Their bulletin board provides only 4 or 5 down-loadable files, no mail 
	or conversation.  The b-board is a toll call to No. Carolina.  One of 
	its files is a program which exports quotes from the program's internal
	representation to ASCII.  Another has something to do with running on MS 
	Windows. 

	I nosed around among the program's files, and found one that appears
	to contain the names of the stocks in my list, so it might be possible
	to change the list without telling the program.  E.g., it might be
	possible to delete a stock from the list, and reinstate it later,
	without having to get a whole year's history.  But I don't know what
	the program does if it finds one stock's data not updated to the same
	date as all the others.  I wouldn't be surprised if the program chokes,
	as a means to force users to play the pay-up game.


	Regards, Robert.

    I have a program, QUOTE_V0.EXE on my VMS account that has worked fine
    for years.  When I run it, it gives me the latest DEC stock report. 
    Apparently it calls for data on some node on the network and reads the
    latest value.  Lately it has not been able to access the data, it
    thinks the network partner has exited.
    
    Any idea where one can get an updated copy of this .EXE?  Thanks
    
    Dennis
    

re -.8

There is a whole string of recent notes on NYOSS1::Digital_investing
that will help make your stock lookup whole again...

    Any new data on this topc?  I'm especially interested in two services
    whose ads seem appealing: 
    
    	Reuters Money Network ($25, but the monthly charge thereafter is
    	unclear.  What does s/h mean in "$7.50 s/h"?)
    
    	Dow JOnes Market Monitor (4 mos. for $90)
    
    They both appear to have what I'm looking for: comments, news stories,
    quotes, insider trading, opinions, etc.  I'm looking for a "clipping
    service" for those companies and funds I want to follow.
    
    Any advice or opinions?
     

    Reuters Money Network is 'ok'... Nice sw provided, quotes on stocks,
    bonds, mutual funds etc. but no Futures or Commodities. You get to
    'track' 10 stocks every months with graphs.  It does real well in
    maintaining a portfolio(s). Great newsreader!
    It's _very_ similar to Wealthbuilder which you see advertised in
    Money Magazine.
    
    I dropped it after 6 months for Telescan and SC 2.1 which gets me
    more of what I want. But, yeah, I'd recommend Reuters.  They give you
    a 30-day guarantee so try it.
    
    

> Reuters Money Network ($25, but the monthly charge thereafter is
> unclear.  What does s/h mean in "$7.50 s/h"?)

	Does anyone have a voice number for Reuters?  I called
	1-800 directory assisitance and was given a number, but
	when I called it it was a data or fax line.

	Thanks!  Jeff

    The 800 directory on the web says:
    
    Reuters Information Services, Inc.	800-338-1894
    
    Ray