W&L

University Library

Finance & Investments

Sources useful for research in finance and investments.

Search for Articles from Trade Journals

If you are looking for articles about a specific company, you may want to search Business Source Complete or Dow Jones Factiva using the company's ticker symbol.

Company Profiles & Reports

Financial Data

The following resources offer standard financial statements and allow users to download them as spreadsheets or delimited files.

•  FactSet
   FactSet is available to W&L users only; registration is required see instructions below. FactSet offers comprehensive data and analytics on global financial and economic markets and companies. Once you have your account, you can get help using FactSet in the Online Assistant, but logging in is required. You can also access tutorials and information about FactSet Certification at FactSet Learning (requires logging in). 

FactSet data coverage includes:

  • Financial data on 70,000+ public and private companies worldwide with historical coverage for developed markets from 1980s and for emerging markets from 1990s
  • Up-to 2,000 historical financial metrics data items for close to 100 countries
  • Historical financial data on 5,000 global indices, as well as fixed income, commodities, alternative investments markets, and more
  • Other items include bonds and loans, corporate governance, estimates, filings, mergers and acquisitions, mutual funds, ownership, private companies, and supply chain relationships. 

Access to FactSet is available for academic, noncommercial use by students & faculty of W&L, and it is intended for advanced users. FactSet requires registration for an individual user account.

Accessing FactSet:  Registration is required

  1. To get started with FactSet, new users must first register and create an individual account using a Washington and Lee University email address at: https://advantage.factset.com/academic_idrequest
  2. Upon completion of the registration form, ID requests are typically processed by FactSet within 72 business hours. You will receive an email directly from FactSet confirming your registration and providing login information.

For Assistance:

  • You can get help using FactSet in the Online Assistant, and you should start here (requires logging in). 
  • Tutorials and information about FactSet Certification is available at FactSet Learning (requires logging in).
  • For technical issues, contact the FactSet Help Desk at 1-877-FACTSET (available 24/7). This is not for help using the site itself, but technical issues about accessing the site.
  • Email: academics@factset.com

Analysts' Reports

Directories

Stock Quotes

Yahoo! Finance and the WSJ Market Data Center are good for current quotes, but if you want to download historical quotes, you should choose one of the following sources.

Stock Market Indexes

Wall Street Journal

Search for articles in the WSJ dating back to 1984.

ABI/Inform

Factiva --  limit to articles just in the Wall Street Journal by adding AND rst=j to your search

Reference Sources