Google launches financial news, data, blog site

Tuesday March 21st 2006, 10:37 am
Filed under: Newspapers

Google is introducing a financial news, stock quote and chat service that seeks to shake up the online finance information market now dominated by internet media rivals and online brokers. The web search leader said late on Monday that it has begun offering a trial version of the service called Google Finance that uses a keyword search system to help consumers target information on public and private companies and mutual funds. Google Finance (http://finance.google.com) primarily provides financial news, stock quotes, charts and data. In its trial form, the site is far less comprehensive than established financial sites such as those from Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN America Online’s Money & Finance and TheStreet.com. One of the more novel features of the site gives user the ability to view financial news alongside historical price charts over various time frames. As the user zooms back in time, the news results change with the date. The site identifies financial stories within Google News, the company’s existing news search site that features articles from roughly 4,500 different sources. By contrast, Yahoo’s financial news relies on three dozen top editorial brands. And while Yahoo was the first of the major internet sites to incorporate blogging alongside news in its Yahoo News site, Google Finance is first to run blogs alongside financial news. (Reuters,March 21, 2006)

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