MSN Stock Price Add-In For Excel

One of the handiest investing tools I've come across is a free download available from Microsoft that allows you to automatically update an Excel spreadsheet with stock prices from MSN Money. After installing the tool in Excel, an "Insert Stock Quotes" button will appear in the toolbar at the top of your spreadsheets. When clicked, the button opens a dialog box in which you specify the stock ticker you'd like to track, and a list of market data you can have imported into your spreadsheet. After you choose which ones you'd like to import and hit "OK," formulas like this will appear in whatever Excel cells you're working in: =MSNStockQuote($B25,"Ask Price","US")

You'll also see a button labelled "Update Quotes" in the Excel toolbar. When you click this, whatever stock quotes you've added to your spreadsheet will be updated automatically with the latest price data from MSN Money.

The quoting tool allows you to track information about your stocks including their:

• 52 Week High
• 52 Week Low
• Day's High
• Day's Low
  
• Open Price
• Last Price
• Ask Price
  
• Ask Size
• Bid Price
• Bid Size
• Company Name
• Quoted Currency
• Date of Last Sale
• Earnings Per Share
• Market Capital
• P/E Ratio
• Percent Change
• Previous Close
• Shares Outstanding
• Size of Last Sale
• Time of Last Sale
• Volume

I use this tool to quickly update historical price data about my portfolio of stocks, which I then run through various technical analysis equations to determine whether any of them have reached a good buying or selling point.

All in all, the MSN stock quote add-in can be a very convenient way to import key data about your stock portfolio directly into a spreadsheet. To get this free add-in, just download it from Microsoft's site and go through the quick installation process. Here's where to download the stock quote add-in.

Happy trading!

Financial News & Information Services

The following news and information services provide updates on stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds, commodities, options, futures and other financial markets:

Bloomberg.com

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Investors.com: Investors Business Daily

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Subscription services include market updates and commentary, stock analysis and rankings, lists of stocks posting dramatic gains and substantial institutional ownership, ETF research and analysis, and tutorials on Investors.com's proprietary CAN-SLIM investment philosophy.

MarketWatch

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Owned by Dow Jones & Company, MarketWatch is a leading provider of business news, financial information and analytical tools. MarketWatch also offers subscription products for individual investors, including the Hulbert Financial Digest suite of products, Retirement Weekly and ETF Trader.

Reuters Investing News

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Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information.

WSJ.com: The Wall Street Journal Online Edition

About The Wall Street Journal Online:

Subscription services include complete coverage of global financial markets, extensive research and charting capabilities, current and historical stock quotes, 90-day archived news, personalization features, and a variety of e-mail and alert services.

Yahoo! Finance

About Yahoo! Finance:

Provides new on recent market activity, stock screening and analysis tools, current and historical price data, investor education articles and tutorials, personal finance advice and commentary, and updates on stocks, industry sectors, mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, options, and international markets.

Do you have an additional financial news or information service to suggest? Please free free to post your recommendation in the comments below.