Research Guides: Investments/Financial Markets: Getting Started

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This guide covers search tools for research in topics related to the purchase of stocks, bonds, etc. and financial market research.

Start with:

S&P Capital IQ PRO (with access to ESG and Supply Chain)

University students, staff, and faculty must create a user profile. See More Information below for details.
Standard & Poor's Capital IQ is a resource for financial data, analytics, and research. Capital IQ PRO includes access to valuable market research data, including ESG ratings.
Guest users not affiliated with the University, please contact busref@umn.edu 2 business days ahead of your visit to arrange for login access.

Detailed instructions on how to create a personal account are available at: https://libguides.umn.edu/capiqpro

Note: Full Tunnel VPN is required to use this resource.
PitchBook
Pitchbook is a mediated-access database. Please see Additional Information. Use PitchBook to search thousands of private equity and venture capital deals by hundreds of criteria. Establish benchmarks, find real time data on deals, identify and analyze comparables, and search investor details.

Each user must create a personal account while on campus, or via full tunnel VPN, using their valid @umn.edu e-mail address. On-campus or full tunnel VPN access is also required for changing account passwords. Individual accounts must be reset every year on July 1st. Detailed instructions on how to create a personal account are available at: libguides.umn.edu/pitchbook

Faculty requiring larger data downloads may contact the library for assistance. Forward Pitchbook faculty download requests busref@umn.edu.

Bloomberg Professional Terminal
Bloomberg Professional is a real-time financial services industry data integrator providing news and analytics for over 129 countries and 250 exchanges. Offerings include 24-hour historical and 15-minute delayed securities pricing, news, data, and analysis on companies, markets and economies. Bloomberg Professional market coverage includes: Governments, Preferred, Corporate's, Mortgages, Money Markets, Municipals, Equities, Commodities, Indices, Currency & Derivatives. Also included is Bloomberg Government.

Bloomberg Professional desktop is available in Wilson Library (West Bank Campus), and laptops in Walter Library (for use in the Toaster). See access instructions below.
Using Bloomberg Professional in Wilson Library. Direct specific questions to the Libraries business specialists: busref@umn.edu.
Using Bloomberg Professional laptops in Walter Library (for use in the Toaster)

Fitch Solutions
UMN affiliates: Please email busref@umn.edu to request an account.
Detailed reports on global industrial and municipal markets, companies and nonprofits, emphasizing emerging markets. Include extensive country risk and credit ratings, macroeconomic and financial analysis, and ESG scores. Find intra-daily alerts on economic, industrial, and political developments, business deals, multinational joint ventures, and regulatory changes.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ.COM)
Get WSJ.com subscription through the library. Sign up for a personal account at the link above. Access to the articles, photographs, charts, podcasts, videos and other premium content available on the WSJ.COM website back to the 2010. Mobile app access is included in the subscription.

Access available only for University of Minnesota Twin Cities and Duluth students, faculty, and staff. No guest access available. Each user must set up a personal account to save articles, create alerts, download apps, and use other features. Once a personal account is created, you can access WSJ.COM from anywhere.
Morningstar Institutional Equity Research (MIERS) (a module of PitchBook)
Locate recent and historical equity research analysis by Morningstar covering more than 1500 stocks globally—across all sectors, industries, and regions. Report types include Market, Sector, Observer, Company and more. Access using your PitchBook account. Don't have a PitchBook account but want to sign up? Get detailed instruction on setting up an account at: libguides.umn.edu/pitchbook
Aftermarket Research (a module of S&P Capital IQ)
Extensive collection of embargoed analyst research reports, offering coverage across more than 1,800 research providers including 30 million+ reports (current & historical back to 1995). Note: UMN affiliated users will create an individual account through a self-registration process. Follow the steps after selecting from the link above.
Guest users not affiliated with the University, please contact busref@umn.edu ahead of your visit to arrange for login access.
Morningstar Investing Center
Morningstar Investing Center provides data on over 50,000 stocks, 250,000 open-end mutual funds, over 17,000 exchange-traded funds, and over 13,000 closed-end funds.

Then try any of the following:

Mergent Online (Business)
Database was sunsetted effective June 30, 2025.
Profiles of public corporations around the world that includes summaries, company histories, property, financials, subsidiaries, joint ventures, long term, press release and historical annual reports.
Business Source Premier
Find business articles from journals and magazines in marketing, management, information technology, operations, human resources, accounting, finance and economics dating back to 1965.
CB Insights
Access to this resource has been cancelled effective June 9, 2025. For an alternative business data option, please see Pitchbook.
National Science Foundation-backed company that uses data to provide Venture Capitalists, corporate strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions groups, and investment bankers with intelligence on emerging companies and disruptive technology trends.

You must create a personal account to access this resource. Click on the SIGN UP link. Accounts expire after one year and must be renewed annually. Contact CB Insights at info@cbinsights.com to renew/reinstate account logins. Note: Users must connect to resource through Libraries site or be on VPN to use their personal login off campus.
Mergent Bondviewer
Mergent BondViewer is a financial industry database for US taxable and municipal bonds. We have access to these modules: Corporate Bonds, Municipal Bonds and Retail Notes. Use it to search for bond ratings (including ratings from Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch), issuer name, issue description, ticker, coupon, and maturity date.

Also check out:

Industry Information Sources
Find industry overviews and reports that include forecasts, market trends, key players, financial ratios and benchmarks, SWOT analysis, and information on industry conditions.

Last Updated: Nov 7, 2025 2:31 PM