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!

Brokerage Services

The following companies provide discount and retail brokerage services to individual investors seeking to buy or sell stocks, options, mutual funds and ETFs:

Banc of America Investment Services

About Banc of America Investment Services:

Now offers no-commission online equity trades for customers maintaining $25,000 minimum Bank of America account balances (not yet available in all regions). Build and manage a diversified portfolio that could include mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and other investment products. Includes access to industry leading tools, news, and research to help manage your portfolio.

CyberTrader

About CyberTrader:

Active traders choose CyberTrader because they get: the ability to trade equities and derivatives in one platform, competitive commissions, Ken Tower research, a large selection of online education, and more. And they get it all with equity pricing as low as $.006 per share up to 2,000 shares.

E*TRADE Securities

About E*TRADE:

Whether you are an active trader, serious investor, or just getting started, E*TRADE Securities offers you a wide array of products and services with the power, price, and service you need to make the most of your investments. Choose from investments including stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, and IPOs (Initial Public Offerings).

Interactive Brokers

About Interactive Brokers:

Offers advanced trading tools including: integrated technical, fundamental and price/risk analysis tools, real-time margin and activity reporting, over forty order types, and a paper trading facility to test trading strategies. In 2006 Barron's awarded Interactive Brokers its top star ranking overall and for lowest cost broker.

Scottrade

About Scottrade:

Scottrade offers easy-to-use trading platforms and low transaction fees for Listed and Nasdaq Stocks, Bulletin Board Stocks, Pink Sheet, and Canadian Stocks. Investors may also request an options account, or choose from thousands of funds, both load and no-load, including more than 1,000 No-Load, No-Transaction Fee (NTF) mutual funds.

SogoInvest

About SogoInvest:

SogoInvest.com is an online brokerage that allows investors of any kind, beginner or expert, to buy and sell stocks in real-time for $3 or less. We offer sophisticated stock trading tools like our new search engine scanning software, free to customers with funded accounts, as well as some of the lowest commissions in the industry.

Do you have an additional brokerage service to suggest? Please feel free to post your recommendation in the comments below.