Business and Financial Internet Resources:

Selected Sites

A Central Florida Library Cooperative Workshop

Background Information
Business "Portals"
Subjects Alphabetically:
Bonds & Futures
Business "Finders"
Business "Ready Reference"
Calculators & Currency Converters
Commodity Prices
Company Codes
Company Information

Copyrights
Government Information
Industry Information
Insurance Rate& Ratings
Interest Rates
Investment Resources
Mutual Funds
News & Market Updates
Online Trading
Options Investing

Patents & Trademarks
People/Residential "Finders"
Real Estate
Retirement Planning
Statistical Data
Stock Exchanges
Stock Quotes
Tax Information
Ticker Symbols
Other

Tangled in the Web? Using Search Guides & Engines to Untangle Information Resources: http://cflc.net/public_html/tangled.html; Extensive CFLC site providing information about searching the Internet in general; most links are to tools that will also find business information.

Business "Portals" and Subject Guides

Bloomberg Online: http://www.bloomberg.com; Though the business' key product is for purchase, there is a wealth of information available on this site for anyone. While most who know the name equate "Bloomberg" with "finance," the focus of the site is slightly broader, including sections on Markets (news, stocks, currencies, etc.), Money (mutual funds, loan center, life insurance, etc.), Life (art & collectibles, careers, wine, etc.), Charts, Tools, "Entrepreneur Network," and various aspects of the Bloomberg empire (international, multimedia, etc.).
BRASS Best of the Best Business Web Sites: http://www.ala.org/rusa/brass/besthome.html; From the American Library Association's Business Reference and Services Section, this serves as a subject guide to the "best of the best" business sites.
CEO Express: http://www.ceoexpress.com/default.asp; "Business portal for executives created by a CEO," this extensive site includes some four dozen headings ranging from business news and office tools to lifestyle and health issues.
CFLC’s Reference Desk: http://cflc.net/refdesk.htm; Helpful business-related sections with few sources duplicated on this page include: Business Information, Calculators & Converters, Consumer Information, Corporate Data, Current Events, Economics & Statistical Data, Employment, Financial & Investment Resources, Government Information, Legal Resources, Marketing Resources, News & Current Events, Newspapers, Patents, Population Statistics, Postal Information, Real Estate, Statistical Data, Tax Forms & Information, Trademarks, and Travel & Tourism.
Fuld & Company's Internet Intelligence Index: http://www.fuld.com/i3/index.html; Excellent list of resources, categorized by general business topic and by industry. International coverage.
Hoover’s Online: http://www.hoovers.com; Has various sections, e.g., Companies & Industries, Money, Career Development, News Center, Business Travel, Store, plus IPO Central, with information about initial public offerings on U.S. companies that have recently gone public.
IPL Subject Collection: Business & Economics: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/bus00.00.00/; From the Internet Public Library (IPL). In addition to the many "general" business sites listed on this page, it also links to 23 subcategories, each of which provides a lengthy IPL listing in its own right.; Back to top of page.

Bonds & Futures

Bond Calculator: http://www.smartmoney.com/onebond/index.cfm?story=bondcalculator
Bonds Online: http://www.bondsonline.com/
Briefing.com: http://www.briefing.com
Chicago Mercantile Exchange: http://www.cme.com/; Much good educational material here; look under "Educational Resources" and under "Getting Started."
Rates & Bonds ( from Bloomberg Online): http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates/index.html
U.S. Savings Bonds Online (from U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt): http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/sav/savcalc.htm

Business "Finders"

InfoSpace Yellow Pages: http://www.infospace.com/_1_4JDGUMS0441J8JR__info/redirs_all.htm?pgtarg=ylwi; Has reverse lookup and "search near address" features.
IPL Subject Collection: Business Directories (includes international links): http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/bus15.00.00/
MyWay Business Finder: http://www.zip2.com
Register.com (to find out who owns URLs): http://register.com/
Reverse Phone Directory: http://www.reversephonedirectory.com/
SuperPages.com (many options): http://superpages.com
Switchboard: http://www.switchboard.com
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers: http://www.thomasregister.com/; Free, but requires registration.
Worldpages (230 directories for 100+ countries): http://www.worldpages.com

Business "Ready Reference"

Area Decoder (search U.S. area codes and international calling codes): http://decoder.americom.com/
BizWeb Business Guide to the Web: http://www.bizweb.com; "BizWeb is a [searchable] web business guide to 43166 companies listed in 191 categories." Links to the appropriate home pages.
Federal Express (FEDEX) Airbill Tracking: http://www.fedex.com/us/tracking/
Internet 800 Directory (800 and 888 listings of businesses by company, number, and type of industry): http://inter800.com/
Map Blast: http://www.mapblast.com; Allows looking for business names, categories, or locations and has a useful new business tools section.
Quick Reference -- Purdue University Library: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/eresources/readyref/
United Parcel Service (UPS) Package Tracking: http://wwwapps.ups.com/etracking/tracking.cgi
Weather Reports (The Weather Channel): http://www.weather.com/
ZIP Codes/Postal Rates: http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/ziplookup/lookupmenu.htm

Calculators & Currency Converters

Mortgage 101: Calculators from Beacon Mortgage: http://nt.mortgage101.com/partner-scripts/calculators.asp?p=beaconmtg; Includes 16 different business calculators, including amortization, cost of living, debt consolidation, etc.
Currency Converter: http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc; From Olsen and Associates, this is searchable from January 1, 1990, and includes currency converters, a daily currency table, historical tables and charts, and forecasts.
FinanCenter: http://www.financenter.com/; Interactive financial calculators aimed at a consumer market.
Interactive Data Corporation: http://www.interactivedatacorp.com/; From Interactive Data Corporation (formerly Data Broadcasting Corporation), this site includes international and commodities exchanges and trading tools.
Investor Home: Interactive Tools and Calculators: http://www.investorhome.com/interact.htm; Excellent collection of (mostly) financial calculators.
Kiplinger.com Tools: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/; Provides investing, financial, planning and spending tools and calculators.
T. Rowe Price Tools & Calculators: http://www.troweprice.com/common/index3/0,3011,lnp
%253D10002%2526cg%253D1270%2526pgid%253D8277,00.html; Extensive collection of highly rated financial tools and planning documents.

Commodity Prices

Bloomberg Online: http://www.bloomberg.com; (Search menu under "Commodities.")
CNN Financial Network - Markets & Investing: Commodities: http://cnnfn.com/markets/commodities.html

Company Codes

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) [replaced SIC system in 1997]: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
Bridge between NAICS and SIC (based on the 1997 Economic Census): http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97brdg/
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual [search the 1987 U.S. version by keyword]: http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html

Copyrights

United States Copyright Office: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
UCF Libraries - Copyright Resources: http://library.ucf.edu/Reference/Instruction/CopyrightResources.htm

Government Information

CFLC Reference Desk: Florida Resources: http://cflc.net/refdesk.htm#fla
FirstGov: http://firstgov.gov
Google Uncle Sam: http://google.com/unclesam
GPO Access: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html
UCF Libraries Government Documents Collection: http://library.ucf.edu/GovDocs/; (Includes documents at all levels, including international and local.)
U.S. Business Advisor: http://www.business.gov/

Industry Information

Business 2.0 ("Industries" section): http://www.ecompany.com/webguide
Corporate Information (use "Research A Country's Industry" on the main page): http://www.corporateinformation.com/
Current Industrial Reports: http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/mp/www/pub/cir/mscir.html
Hoover's Online (Hoover's described above in Business "Portals"): http://www.hoovers.com/; Most, but not all, industry information is subscription only.
Industry Research Desk: http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/rdindex2.htm
Manufacturing.net: The Manufacturing Marketplace: http://www.manufacturing.net/
Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (industry information and trade data): http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/
TSNN.com - the ultimate tradeshow resource: http://www2.tsnn.com/
U.S. Industry & Trade Outlook® 2000 (Purchase & download individual chapters): http://www.ntis.gov/product/industry-trade-chapters.htm
Yahoo! Finance: News by Industry: http://biz.yahoo.com/industry/

Insurance Rates & Ratings

A.M. Best Insurance Ratings: http://www.ambest.com/; "The Insurance Information Source." Includes company reports and financial strength ratings. Some information is free; some fee.
Arvest Insurance: http://insurance.arvest.com/home.stm; "...the best site to find out all about life insurance and annuities...calculate the amount you need, compare policies, features, and carriers." Online application available. (Free, but requires registering.)
InsWeb: http://www.insweb.com; Highly acclaimed site that includes articles, do-it-yourself evaluation tools, a FAQ section, and a glossary for many types of insurance, including auto, home, renters, condo, life, health, and small group health.
Insure.com - The Consumer Insurance Guide: http://www.insure.com; Another acclaimed site (that does not sell insurance) providing highly researched and unbiased reporting on the latest news in the insurance industry. Allows searching by state.

Interest Rates

BanxQuote Banking, Mortgage & Finance Network: http://www.banxquote.com/; Partnering with numerous leading financial institutions, this is "a source of dynamically updated rates and quotes from leading financial service providers in each market. It also features state-by-state, regional and national composite benchmarks, as well as useful links and snapshot profiles of the financial institutions."
Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com; Various, including both U.S. and international, many listed on the front page; also check site map.

Investment Resources

Internet Fraud: How to Avoid Internet Investment Scams: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm; From the SEC, this details many of the common investment fraud schemes and tells how to identify and avoid them.
Investor Home: http://www.investorhome.com/; Extensive collection of investment links that serve both experienced and novice users. Helpful to start with the table of contents.
Midridge Stock Trade Signals and Market Indicators: http://web.archive.org/web/20030618040716/http://www.midridge.com/pages/asearchlinks.asp; List of financial and investment links from a commercial investment site. (No longer maintained; archival link.)
Morningstar: http://www.morningstar.com/; Long-known in the print world for its excellent products, Morningstar "is the leading provider of mutual fund, stock, and variable-annuity investment information....[furnishing] unbiased data and analysis, and candid editorial commentary." Many products and tools on this site.
MSN MoneyCentral: http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp; A large encyclopedic financial page that is also home to MSN MoneyCentral - Investor.
Quicken.com Investments: http://www.quicken.com/investments/
Raymond James - Glossary of Investment Terms: http://www.rjf.com/gloss.htm; Not searchable, though useful.
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission Investor Education and Assistance: http://www.sec.gov/investor.shtml; Includes much educational material, a FAQ file, and a complaints form for investors.
Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/; Excellent "one-stop" shop to investigate all things financial, among others: U.S. and world markets, financial research, loans, insurance, taxes, financial news, and a bill-paying service.
Zacks Investment Research: http://my.zacks.com/; Another known name from print business research, "Zacks is a full service quantitative research firm, offering a suite of products designed to provide analysts, corporate investors, brokers, and individual investors with the tools they need to optimize their equity decision making processes."

Mutual Funds

Google Directory: Business > Investing > Mutual Funds: http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Mutual_Funds/
Morningstar (described under "Investment Resources" above; choose "Funds" from the menu): http://www.morningstar.com/
Mutual Funds Central: http://www.fundz.com/; Combination listing and search engine service.
Quicken.com - Mutual Fund Finder: http://www.quicken.com:80/investments/mutualfunds/finder/

News & Market Updates

Barron’s Online: http://www.barrons.com
Bloomberg Business News & Commentary: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/index.html
CNNfn - The Financial Network: http://cnnfn.com/
Financial Times: http://news.ft.com/home/rw/
Kiplinger Online: http://www.kiplinger.com/
The Motley Fool: http://www.fool.com
Newsroom (newswire service): http://EclecticEsoterica.com/news.html
PR Newswire: http://www.prnewswire.com/
StreetEye - The Investment Research Systems Company: http://www.streeteye.com
USA Today - Money Section: http://www.usatoday.com/money/front.htm; Full text. Updated during the day (useful for Dow Jones Industrial Averages). Also, stock quotes (maximum of ten) by ticker symbol available.
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition (limited content available free): http://www.wsj.com

Online Trading

Investing Online Resource Center: http://www.investingonline.org/; READ THIS FIRST! "Investing Online Resource Center (IORC) is the only independent, non-commercial organization dedicated solely to serving the individual consumer who invests online or is considering doing so." The IORC is funded by the North American Securities Administrators Association. Provides several Online Broker Ratings (but does not make its own recommendations).
Ameritrade: http://www.ameritrade.com
Brown & Company: http://www.brownco3.com/
Datek: http://www.datek.com
E*Trade: http://www.etrade.com
Fidelity: http://www.fidelity.com
Harrisdirect (formerly DLJdirect then CSFBdirect): http://www.harrisdirect.com/
Quick and Reilly: http://www.quickandreilly.com/
Charles Schwab: http://www.schwab.com/
TD Waterhouse: http://www.waterhouse.com/

Options Investing

Google Directory: Business > Investing > Options > Option Exchanges: http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Options/Option_Exchanges/?tc=1
Quote.com (basic quotes & strategy analysis): http://www.quote.com

Patents & Trademarks

Community of Science U.S. Patents Database: http://patents.cos.com/
Delphion Intellectual Property Network to search, view and analyze patent collections worldwide: http://www.delphion.com/; (search U.S. patents full-text from 1971-present; images from 1790-1971; World Intellectual Property Organization and other countries also searchable)
Index to Manual of Classification of Patents: http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/
Internet Patent News / Source Translation & Optimization Patent Web Site: http://www.bustpatents.com/
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/
UCF Libraries Patent Tutorial: http://library.ucf.edu/govdocs/UCF%20PATENT%20TRADEMARK
%20PATENT%20RESEARCH.htm
UCF Patent and Trademark Depository Library: http://library.ucf.edu/govdocs/pat_trad.htm

People/Residential "Finders"

Switchboard: http://www.switchboard.com
WhoWhere?: http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/
Yahoo! People Search: http://people.yahoo.com/

Real Estate

Buyowner.com - No Commission Real Estate Advertising: http://www.buyowner.com/
Countrywide Mortgage (a direct lender): http://www.countrywide.com
Home Buyer's Information Center: http://www.ourfamilyplace.com/homebuyer/
HomeScape.com (was Listinglink): http://homescape.com/
Homestore.com: http://www.homestore.com/; Site includes finding apartments, senior housing, corporate housing, and storage; maintaining homes; calculators; and much more.
Inman News Features "The first name in real estate news.": http://www.inman.com/
International Real Estate Digest: http://www.ired.com/
Mortgage 101: Calculators from Beacon Mortgage: http://nt.mortgage101.com/partner-scripts/calculators.asp?p=beaconmtg; Includes 16 different business calculators, including amortization, cost of living, debt consolidation, etc.
National Association of Realtors - Realtor.com™: http://www.realtor.com/
Rent.net (Rental & Relocation Resource): http://www.rent.net/

Retirement Planning

About.com's Retirement Planning with 401(k)s, IRAs, Roths, Annuities 401 k: http://retireplan.about.com/mbody.htm
American Express Retirement: http://www10.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,4598,00.asp
Quicken.com: Retirement: http://www.quicken.com/retirement/
Retirement Life: http://www.aigvalic.com/valic2000/valicweb.nsf
SaveWealth.com: Retirement: http://www.savewealth.com/retirement/
T. Rowe Price Retirement Tools & Calculators: http://www.troweprice.com/common/index3/0,3011,lnp
%253D10002%2526cg%253D1270%2526pgid%253D8278,00.html

Statistical Data

Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/
CFLC Reference Desk - Economic & Statistical Data: http://cflc.net/refdesk.htm#econ
Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
Consumer Price Indexes: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
FedStats: http://www.fedstats.gov/
STAT-USA (fee-based subscription service): http://www.stat-usa.gov/
White House Briefing Room (latest federal govt. stats): http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/fsbr.html

Stock Exchanges

American Stock Exchange (AMEX): http://www.amex.com/
Chicago Stock Exchange: http://www.chx.com
Google Directory: Business > Investing > Stocks and Bonds > Exchanges (100+ U.S. and international exchanges): http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Stocks_and_Bonds/Exchanges/?tc=1
NASDAQ: http://www.nasdaq.com/
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE): http://www.nyse.com/

Stock Quotes

Big Charts: http://www.bigcharts.com/; Provides "interactive charts [including ten-year historical stock quotes], quotes, news, industry analysis and intraday stock screeners."
Bloomberg Online: http://www.bloomberg.com; Various on stocks; check "Markets" on menu bar or use stock symbol search.
Canadian Stock Sites: http://www.canadianstocksites.com/
Dow Jones Averages: http://averages.dowjones.com/; Includes daily historical data back to 1896.
Microsoft Investor: http://investor.msn.com/home.asp; Includes historical charts.
Thomson Investors Network: http://www.thomsoninvest.net

Tax Information

Florida Department of Revenue: http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/
H&R Block Online: http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/
Internal Revenue Service: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov
TaxWeb: http://www.taxweb.com

Ticker Symbols

Almost all of the sites listed in Investment Resources, News & Market Updates, or in Stock Quotes, above, have a ticker symbol lookup at least for U.S. companies. The following has a wide selection of international stocks, as well:
CBS MarketWatch Symbol Lookup: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/lookup.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=mktwqn; Allows specifying by 16 international symbol formats.

Other (Personal Social Action Recommendations [free] from the Site Creator):

"Click to Donate" Resources on the Internet: http://cflc.net/public_html/clicktodonate.html

Created 2/12/2000; last revised 3/28/2006

Copyright ©2006 Central Florida Library Cooperative. All Rights Reserved. "CFLC Training Solutions" and all CFLC logos appearing on this web site are registered service marks of the Central Florida Library Cooperative, Inc. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Business and Financial Internet Resources:

Selected Sites

A Central Florida Library Cooperative Workshop

Background Information

Business "Portals" and Subject Guides

Other (Personal Social Action Recommendations [free] from the Site Creator):