Data Stream Quick Start Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2

DataStream Desktop ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Quick Search ................................................................................................................................................. 3

DataStream Charting ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Key Indicators ................................................................................................................................................ 6

Charts Page ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Overview ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

Reports ........................................................................................................................................................ 11

Exporting To Excel ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction

What is DataStream?

DataStream is the most comprehensive economic and financial time series database. It gives the user

access to a wide set of historical financial content and it allows you to investigate the correlations, and

relationships between global economic indicators and various asset classes. DataStream combines deep,

reliable and trusted content with industry standard analytical tools to help you make better decisions.

You can use data stream to find information on equities, indices, and other economic indicators to

understand the markets. One can search new series of data, adjust the content, the styles of display and

combine different series of data to display on charts. DataStream’s flexible charting options give you the

opportunity to export charts and tables to excel in order to analyze the information.

The DataStream desktop offers sophisticated tools to customize your charts and reports to match your

requirements. It allows you to create in-house styles, share them with your colleagues, and easily switch

from one style to another.

In this DataStream tutorial we will explore the use of DataStream Desktop, DataStream Navigator, and

DataStream Charting.

DataStream Desktop

This is the view of the DataStream Desktop page:

This is the first view of DataStream when you open the software. On the Left hand side, there are tabs

organized by Data Category, Charting and Analysis. The page also allows you to run a quick search for

any series you want to look up. In the middle of the page is the welcome page that provides information

on the software and some of its features.

Quick Search

Firstly, we will retrieve an overview of company performance for Apple (AAPL). Go to Data Category on the left side and select “Equities”, then go to Analysis column and select “Single Series-Overview” “Overview of Company performance”. Then go to the “Find Series” Button, this will open a new window (DataStream Navigator). You can work through the text boxes and type in the information. See image below for a visual display:

Click on “@AAPL”

This was a simple search in which we used the DataStream Navigator but you can use the DataStream Navigator for many different searches. To go to the Navigator, click on “Find Series” and it will open up a window called “DataStream Navigator”. This search engine allows you to conduct Advanced Search. See Visual below:

This engine provides the user with many different options for running a search that will give the most optimal solution. One interesting feature is that if you hover over the button next to “Equities”, it will give you a drop down list of all the other categories to search from such as Equity indices, investments trusts and more. One can select any one of these options and run a search in that category.

DataStream Charting

Another Very interesting feature of Data Stream is the option of DataStream Charting. This can be found under the Analysis Column on the left hand side. Click on “Display Current Chart” this will open DataStream Charting. Please see the visual below for clarity:

Once you click on, “Display Current Chart”, DataStream Charting will open up, and sometimes it prompts you to download an update, please click “Cancel” and you will be able to work in DataStream Charting.

There are six main categories that you can choose from; Key Indicators, Library, Chart, Overview, Report, Calendar. Key Indicators tab shows a list of major economic indicators according to country or type of indicator. The Library tab contains a gallery of sample DataStream Charts, styles and templates. The Chart tab allows you to design your own chart, add series of data and change settings of the chart. The Overview tab shows background information and recent values for any selected economic time series.

Key Indicators

This page lists series based on the country you have selected and/or the category you are interested in. Once you have decided your search criteria, you can hover over the series you are interested in and you will see a menu of option; you can select, “View overview” to get a view of the chart and the see what the series offer, “View New Chart” to open the series in a new chart, “Add to current chart” to add the selected series to a selected chart, “View Report” to view report, and “Export Series To Excel” to export series to excel. Please see image below:

Next, we will look at the Library tab, this tab allows you to upload charts and other data series that you have saved on the system before. This is an efficient way of organizing information for others to use. In the left side, under the DataStream folder, you can find new features, charting features and example charts that you can import for you own use, or view them for styling reference. Please see the image below for a visual:

The image shows the Example charts tab, you can hover over the arrow next to an example chart to view the options of all the actions you can take.

Charts Page

Another very important feature is the Charts page; you can select the charts page by clicking on the charts tab in the top menu. This shows the charts that you have selected either from the “Library” page or the “Key Indicators” page. Please see image below for a clear view of the Chart page:

DataStream allows you to edit the chart, you can change the format of the chart, and change the style of the chart and you can add or remove series from the chart. To add a line to the chart, you can run a search for a data series in one of the lines with a blank text box by hovering over the arrow under the blank text box and selecting, “Find New Series”. This is a very useful feature, as most of the time; users want to compare the performance of one set of data to another. Please see the picture below for a visual display of the actions:

Another feature of the Chart page is that you can change the settings of the chart by going to “Chart Settings” in the left menu. Here you can adjust the color of the chart, change the display of data, display the legend, and adjust the axis of the graph. Please see the image below for a visual:

Overview

The overview page shows the background information about the data series such as the start date, end date, the frequency of the data collected and etc. This information helps users accurately define their data and obtain better results for their research. On other interesting feature of this page is that it shows some basis calculations of the data such as year-over-year percentage change and month-over-month percentage change. Please see the image below do see where the information can be found.

Reports

The report page presents the data series in a table format so users can take the data and perform further analysis.

Exporting To Excel

Throughout DataStream, you will find the excel link which allows you to export data from DataStream to excel. This is a very useful tool because you users can perform many different types of analysis on the data in excel. One more important feature of the charts page is that it allows you to see the data in a chart form and in a data table form for analysis. To toggle between chart and data, you can just click either button and you will be able to see the information presented on the screen. Please see the diagram below for illustration of the two buttons: