Database Guide: Global Financial Data: Overview

Two ways to log in to database:

Click Log in Anonymously button if you need to do a quick one-time search and save results.

Some functions, such as AutoTrac, Stock Screen/Ranking, and My Tree are available only with individual account.

All Stanford users may create individual accounts. To create an account, upon opening the database, click the Register link and follow the prompts.

Global Financial Data provides historical and current financial and economic data for more than 150 countries. The database offers long runs of data on interest rates, exchange rates, stock market indices, commodity prices, and total returns on bonds, and treasury bills from every major market in the world.

To retrieve long runs of historical financial and economic series such as:

• Fixed income data back to 1520
• Exchange rates back to 1383
• Inflation Data back to 1209
• Interest rates from 1700
• Commodity prices on over 100 commodities back to 1252

To retrieve long runs of historical macroeconomic series, such as main economic indicators, consumer price indexes, etc.

To retrieve long runs of historical government financial data.

Upon login, confirm that GFDatabase is selected in left panel.

Keyword Search

1. In the Search box at top, enter search term(s). For finer results, click the button and select applicable filters, e.g. Name or Symbol, etc.
2. Select individual series from the from drop-down list or click the icon or press Enter to display all results.
   NOTE: Keyword search works the best when you enter the exact series name or its GFD symbol. See the Quick Way to Find Exact Series Name or Symbol section on this page.

Browse Search

1. Confirm that GFDatabase is selected in left panel.
2. Make selections pertaining to query, e.g.Country (or region), Series Group (Commodities, National Accounts, etc.), Series Type, Dates as needed.
3. Click Search.

Temporary save multiple series from one or several searches:

1. In the Search Results window, checkmark the series of interest.
2. Click the icon below results window. That will save selected series in window under Recent Results List tab.
3. If needed, perform other search(es) and add selected series to the list under Recent Results List tab.
   
   All series in Recent Results List will remain there for the duration of the session.

To download, graph, or save results:

• For individual series, select icons on right to download or graph the series.
• For multiple results, in Search Results or in Recent Results List window, select series and click the icons at the bottom of the page to download graph, or save results. (The icon bar in Recent Results List window has fewer choices).
  
  More details on selected functions:
• To present results as graph or chart, select any graph or chart type icon. That will open the graph or chart for selected series in Graph and Chart Results (See Graph Tools section on Graph Tools and AutoTrac page of this guide)
• To download results, click the Download icon. That will open the downloading options box. Make selections, e.g. data items, time period, adjustments etc, as applies. Select file format in the Output Format box (Excel, CSV, or zip file) if other than the default Excel 2007. Click the Download button in the lower right corner.
  
  NOTE: Download limit is 1,000 series per day. To view the number of series you have selected for download, click the Your Download Info link above the Download button.
• Click the Add Series to Workbook icon to save selected series in GFD for future use, past the expiration of the current session. (See AutoTrac sections on Graph Tools and AutoTrac page of this guide).
• Click the Export Results as List icon to save results as an Excel file as a list of series with pertaining information without data

To find a specific series when the number of results is large, do the following:

1. In the Search Results window, click Export Results as List icon from the icon bar below results window.
2. In Excel, use the "find" function to locate a specific series.
   
   NOTE: Use this function to create a list of GFD symbols in .csv format if needed. (See File Upload section on Screening, File Upload page of this guide).