Google Launches Finance Portal
March 21st, 2006 | POSTED BY ROB
Google has launched a new finance portal, Google Finance, which gives information on stocks and shares, and public and private companies along with charts, news and fundamental financial data.
At present, it is a beta product, which means there might be bugs, things that do not work or you may see features changing, and it only covers North American information. Having said that, a search for BT.A, which is British Telecom’s stock code, does bring back a lot of company information.
One of the most interesting features is the “blog posts” area on the company information page, which shows blogs that are talking about that particular company. This is where Google will have a big advantage over other financial rivals, as they can include much more information about the companies from their normal search index. This particular feature may also be a useful tool for companies to see what others are saying about them.
Another stand-out out feature is the charting (which you’ll need Flash installed to view). The charts are draggable, so that you can view the particular timescale you’re interested in, and, on the example I used, which was Google itself, there are also other interactive elements, such as showing key events in the company history, which links to more information on the event.
Google is currently playing catch-up with Yahoo in the finance arena, but with the data they hold, it’s easy to see them catching up quickly. And hopefully we will soon see Google add U.K. data to the portal.
There’s more information about Google Finance over at Reuters.
Categories: Featured, General, Stocks and Shares
