Financial professionals across Europe were left scrambling on Wednesday as Bloomberg, the renowned news and data company, experienced a major outage on its terminal. This disruption impacted numerous government bond sales and customer activity, causing chaos in the financial markets.
Traders and market sources reported that live pricing and market data were not functioning, leaving screens blank and users unable to update spreadsheets or load new information. Peter Schaffrik, chief European macro strategist at RBC and a Bloomberg terminal user, described the situation as troublesome, stating that some auctions had been delayed due to the outage.
By mid-morning in Europe, some users began to see their terminals slowly regain functionality. However, the damage had already been done as bidding in a UK government auction was delayed, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO). The DMO announced that the bidding window for the morning’s auction of the 4% 2031 bond had to be extended due to the ongoing Bloomberg system issues.
The impact of the outage was felt beyond the UK, with a bill auction in Portugal also being delayed and Sweden postponing its scheduled bond auction due to “technical issues.” The Swedish debt office website highlighted that bids in the auctions are typically submitted electronically via the Bloomberg auction system, raising concerns about the reliability of the platform.
Even the European Union was forced to adapt to the situation, postponing the deadline for Wednesday’s sale of EU Bonds by one hour to accommodate the disruptions caused by the Bloomberg outage.
Amidst the chaos, Bloomberg users expressed frustration and described the situation as a “nightmare.” Some users reported that their terminals were completely non-functional, except for the chat function, adding to the sense of unease and uncertainty in the financial markets.
As the outage continued to unfold, Bloomberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment, leaving users and market participants in the dark about the extent of the issue and when normal operations would resume.
In conclusion, the Bloomberg terminal outage on Wednesday served as a stark reminder of the reliance of financial professionals on technology and the potential risks associated with system failures. The disruption caused delays in government bond sales and market activity, highlighting the need for robust backup systems and contingency plans in the financial industry.
