Hi,

Starting today (Sunday, May 3, 2015), the Excel webquery to obtain stock quotes is badly broken again!  This is very frustrating.

Now a webquery (from Excel) that looks like this

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/quoteslookup?SYMBOL=MSFT,AAPL,IBM

returns the following:

The following symbol(s) are either not supported or deprecated.
MSFT,IBM
Click here for supported symbols

When one checks the entities in the list of supported symbols one finds both MSFT and IBM.

This raises three interesting questions:

1)  What the heck is going on?

2)  Does anyone QA the webquery interface for Excel?

3)  What do we need to put in Excel to get quotes for Microsoft and IBM (and lots of others)?

Various changes made to add stocks from non-US exchanges have made almost weekly Excel changes necessary to continue obtaining quotes for the correct stocks.  This is very undesirable.  How can anyone count on using this interface if it continue to be broken so often?

Rather than a generic link to the list of supported symbols, how about adding a new page that actually provides some information about what hoops one is expected to jump through to get stock quotes.  Extensive examples would be nice.

Very very frustrated in Austin.

Norman

Same trouble.  I checked their site and the symbols are there.

Maybe back to Google Sheets!!

I too suddenly have the same problem, but I first thought it was limited to Canadian Symbols

Example: CA: BB

(But $CA:OSPTX, (TSX) still works).

Then I tried with American stocks, and I think the problem comes from the data provider:

Some stocks seem to come in OK:

I have tried MSFT,AAPL,CSCO, BABA,YHOO, JPM

AAPL,CSCO, BABA come in, but  MSFT,YHOO, JPM bring the message:

"The following symbol(s) are either not supported or deprecated."

If you go on the site:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money and enter MSFT, you get 4 results:

Microsoft United States

Microsoft Mexico

Microsoft Romania

Microsoft Brazil

Microsoft Switzerland

I guess they are making changes,  but since Microsoft likes to suck, it never works the first time, but I think it should work in a few days.

One query that that still works OK, is the Yahoo query: It has never failed since I use it.

You save the following text in /My documents/My Data sources\YahooQuotes.iqy

WEB
 1
 http://finance.yahoo.com/quotes/["QUOTE","Enter stock, fund or other symbols separated by commas."]Selection=2
Formatting=None
PreFormattedTextToColumns=True
ConsecutiveDelimitersAsOne=True
SingleBlockTextImport=False 

(Canadian stocks are identified by .TO after the ticker)

But it is a little bit more complicated to use.

First you must configure the data that you want in the portfolio basic.(let's say your want the columns to be

OPEN - DAY HIGH - DAY LOW - PRICE - CHANGE - % CHANGE-VOLUME

Then from inside Excel, you must edit the query and navigate until you can log in.

Then your query will bring you the data you want in .

The stocks that you request need not to be in your portfolio, but the data will be presented in the same way as the basic portfolio would.

It is fast, almost real time, but the query URL cannot be longer then 255 charaters, which mean that I can't request as many Canadian stocks as American stocks.

But the problem is that you have to rewrite the formulas with witch you use the data in your spreadsheet.

You might have to edit names, redefine ranges, rewrite vlookups etc.

Another problem: you might have to redo some of the steps described if you use a different computer, or a different IP.

When the MSN Quotes query stopped working, I have tried to use the Google sheets.

But since my spreadsheets use a lot of VBA, and lots of graphs, I could not export them to Google sheets.

 I had to get the quotes from a Google Sheet and then copy-paste in my Excel sheets, it was such a hassle.

The Yahoo Query described above works much better

I am sorry, I should give the credit of this query to someone else, but I am unable to find again where I found it.

I have written a pretty good VBA sub to make it more flexible. I could post it if requested.

But it is out of topic, since we are here to talk about the MSN query that was still the simplest to use.

But Google sheets are really too limited (at least for my needs)

Idem. A number of symbols are rejected but it's chaotic; sometimes it works, sometimes not. No logic. It is very frustrating.

Sometimes, in the rejected list I find part of a symbol as if the comma was not correctly read or as if a max of characters had been set for the query list.

Sometimes, when I removed the market symbols, let's say for example: "FR:", it works, next time it's rejected and I have to add "FR:" again to obtain a result.

Impossible to get FR:CS which should be the code for AXA quote on Paris market (). AXA is not a small company but the biggest insurer in Europe and a significant actor in most countries, US included. If you search AXA SA in the provided list you find AXAHF and AXAHY: what does it mean HY or HF? But if you search in MSN, you find AXA SA (quote in Paris in ), the provided symbol is CS but FR:CS does not work anymore.

Please, give us some logics to buid our queries. At the time, it looks as if rules where changed each minute!

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Things seem to be looking up.  Many of the symbols I care about are now working.  Progress.

Symbols that are still not working:  HOG and VIAB

Try this:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/quoteslookup?SYMBOL=MSFT,AAPL,IBM,HOG,VIAB

These missing symbols seem to occur when the stock symbol doesn't match the company name.  Symbol HOG is for Harley-Davidson and symbol VIAB is for Viacom B.  I say this although MSFT works fine for Microsoft.  Who knows?  What are the rules?  When will "they" stop tinkering with the interface?

--- Norman

• Edited by NFFATX 15 hours 22 minutes ago

Hi,

I changed the symbols that still were not working (HOG & VIAB) to their ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and now the ISIN are working.

Information about how to get International Securities Identification Numbers may be found in another thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a351be17-b224-4b42-8392-93997d3fde9d/msn-stock-quotes-webquery-returns-data-not-available?forum=excel

I hope this helps someone else.

Norman

I suspect their symbol database got clobbered and is slowing coming back.  I have more symbols working today.

Hi,

Things seem to be looking up.  Many of the symbols I care about are now working.  Progress.

Symbols that are still not working:  HOG and VIAB

Try this:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/quoteslookup?SYMBOL=MSFT,AAPL,IBM,HOG,VIAB

These missing symbols seem to occur when the stock symbol doesn't match the company name.  Symbol HOG is for Harley-Davidson and symbol VIAB is for Viacom B.  I say this although MSFT works fine for Microsoft.  Who knows?  What are the rules?  When will "they" stop tinkering with the interface?

--- Norman

• Edited by NFFATX Monday, May 04, 2015 4:05 PM

Hi,

Things seem to be looking up.  Many of the symbols I care about are now working.  Progress.

Symbols that are still not working:  HOG and VIAB

Try this:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/quoteslookup?SYMBOL=MSFT,AAPL,IBM,HOG,VIAB

These missing symbols seem to occur when the stock symbol doesn't match the company name.  Symbol HOG is for Harley-Davidson and symbol VIAB is for Viacom B.  I say this although MSFT works fine for Microsoft.  Who knows?  What are the rules?  When will "they" stop tinkering with the interface?

--- Norman

• Edited by NFFATX Monday, May 04, 2015 4:05 PM

Hi,

Things seem to be looking up.  Many of the symbols I care about are now working.  Progress.

Symbols that are still not working:  HOG and VIAB

Try this:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/quoteslookup?SYMBOL=MSFT,AAPL,IBM,HOG,VIAB

These missing symbols seem to occur when the stock symbol doesn't match the company name.  Symbol HOG is for Harley-Davidson and symbol VIAB is for Viacom B.  I say this although MSFT works fine for Microsoft.  Who knows?  What are the rules?  When will "they" stop tinkering with the interface?

--- Norman

• Edited by NFFATX Monday, May 04, 2015 4:05 PM

Hi,

I changed the symbols that still were not working (HOG & VIAB) to their ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and now the ISIN are working.

Information about how to get International Securities Identification Numbers may be found in another thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a351be17-b224-4b42-8392-93997d3fde9d/msn-stock-quotes-webquery-returns-data-not-available?forum=excel

I hope this helps someone else.

Norman

• Proposed as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator 22 hours 28 minutes ago
• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator 22 hours 28 minutes ago

Hi,

I changed the symbols that still were not working (HOG & VIAB) to their ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and now the ISIN are working.

Information about how to get International Securities Identification Numbers may be found in another thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a351be17-b224-4b42-8392-93997d3fde9d/msn-stock-quotes-webquery-returns-data-not-available?forum=excel

I hope this helps someone else.

Norman

• Proposed as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 8:59 AM
• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

Hi,

I changed the symbols that still were not working (HOG & VIAB) to their ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and now the ISIN are working.

Information about how to get International Securities Identification Numbers may be found in another thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a351be17-b224-4b42-8392-93997d3fde9d/msn-stock-quotes-webquery-returns-data-not-available?forum=excel

I hope this helps someone else.

Norman

• Proposed as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 8:59 AM
• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

Hi,

I changed the symbols that still were not working (HOG & VIAB) to their ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and now the ISIN are working.

Information about how to get International Securities Identification Numbers may be found in another thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a351be17-b224-4b42-8392-93997d3fde9d/msn-stock-quotes-webquery-returns-data-not-available?forum=excel

I hope this helps someone else.

Norman

• Proposed as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 8:59 AM
• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

I suspect their symbol database got clobbered and is slowing coming back.  I have more symbols working today.

• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator 22 hours 28 minutes ago

I suspect their symbol database got clobbered and is slowing coming back.  I have more symbols working today.

• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

I suspect their symbol database got clobbered and is slowing coming back.  I have more symbols working today.

• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

I suspect their symbol database got clobbered and is slowing coming back.  I have more symbols working today.

• Marked as answer by George.Zhao CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 18, 2015 9:00 AM

Hi,

Whatever the problem was, it appears to be fixed.

Norman

• Marked as answer by NFFATX 16 hours 48 minutes ago

Hi,

Whatever the problem was, it appears to be fixed.

Norman

• Marked as answer by NFFATX Monday, May 18, 2015 2:40 PM

Hi,

Whatever the problem was, it appears to be fixed.

Norman

• Marked as answer by NFFATX Monday, May 18, 2015 2:40 PM

Hi,

Whatever the problem was, it appears to be fixed.

Norman

• Marked as answer by NFFATX Monday, May 18, 2015 2:40 PM

THere are still issues with symbols from wrong exchanges.  PTR shows as Petrotherm (Australia) instead of PetroChina (NYSE)

Since then, the problem has been fixed.

Your link raring exactly the quotes that you requested.

Finally, the problem did not last too long, but I still use my Yahoo query, because (although it is much more complicated), the data include the opening price, and when the MSN Query was repaired, I had already changed all my spreadsheets.

But I also use the MSN query in case...

This is not "fixed", and whoever keeps screwing it up needs to be fired. CSCO, MMM, UTX, MRK, AZN, & T are just a few of the symbols that came back "not supported", but are listed on the supported symbols pages.

Strangely Related:  In the last 5 to 6 months, MicroSoft Office 2010 Excel broke much more than that.  In May, 2015, They messed up my VBA code using the TDAmeritrade Think or Swim (ToS) RTD function.  This had to do with which workbook was referenced in the same instance or a different instance.   Further, I had to place time delays prior to the RTD calls to allow EXCEL to finish it's house keeping. 

Then I find the XL file will only open from an icon, not the recent files nor the file name in a folder. 

This the second time since fall 2014 that MicroSoft updates (patches) broke XL 2010.   Now, they will not let you back out of some updates.

QA - What QA?   It appears the grownups at MicroSoft are not in charge.