‘Yahoo! Finance’ Catches Up With Updates, Launches Canadian Revamp [Opinion]


In July, 2016, the Inquisitr reported on the perception of several of the users of Yahoo! Finance that an extensive overhaul reduced the speed of the site to point where it was “slow.” At the time, users still had the option of using the Canadian site, which was using the same, quick-running format the U.S. previously was. That all came to an end tonight: Yahoo! Canada Finance has gone the same way as the U.S.

However, all is not lost. Comparatively, the roll out of the new Canadian site appears to be free of problems. The upgraded experience loads quickly and has all the same functionality as its U.S. counterpart, which appears to be running better than in the summer of 2016, but not quite as quickly as the Canadian site. The new site is being accessed from Canada for the research into this report, making it seem reasonable that it should load more quickly than the U.S. version. The transformation appears for U.K. users, as well.

Yahoo! Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer at the Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco, California. [Image by Kimberly White/Getty Images]

A video hosted with the Canadian site describes the new design as “modern” and clutter-reducing, allowing users to access the most relevant news and indicators as quickly as possible.

“Data is the hero,” Yahoo! Canada Finance states about the new design. It touts its “complex interactive graphs” accessed from widgets and “clear ticker symbols.” Users can change between different chart time frames on the fly, with the new site responding quickly. Comparisons with major averages and other symbols are easily added to charts. The latest change includes all the same technical indicators and financial data that Yahoo! has always carried.

One of the best features of Yahoo! Finance is that it will keep track of the quotes you regularly access and display them in a list that updates in real time on the front page. Users can create custom lists with the portfolio tools, which include a wide choice of data points. Yahoo! also boasts a screener with a number of powerful features that investors can use to build lists when conducting research.

The website states that its goal is to deliver information that will allow its users to be empowered and “make better financial decisions,” including those researching a mortgage for their first home, those who are professional investors, and those looking to learn more about new careers. In addition to mortgage rates, both of the Yahoo! Finance sites are great places to get up-to-date foreign exchange and bitcoin prices.

Outside Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, in 2012. [Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

Something new for Canadian users, that has been missing for a while, is a stock message-board system. Yahoo! Finance became well known for its message boards through the internet boom of the 1990s and has remained popular with traders. A new “conversations” section was included with the U.S. update in 2016, but Canadians were left with no place to voice their opinions about stocks and other investments. The Canadian “conversations” appear to be integrated with those in the United States.

The leading financial site notes that images can be shared in the community conversations and that messages are shareable across social media. Conversations also pop up beneath stories, similar to the comments section of the older site. There appears to be no discussion of moving Yahoo! Finance, either in Canada or the United States, to any sort of subscription-access model anytime in the near future. The company is asking for feedback from users on its Facebook page and on its Twitter feed.

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) is headed Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer. The Wall Street analyst consensus estimate is for the technology company to earn $5.08 billion for the full-2016 year and $5.22 billion in 2017. Full-year 2016 and 2017 earnings per share estimates have been raised significantly over the past 90 days, by 18.4 percent, from $0.49 to $0.58, and by 14.3 percent, from $0.56 to $0.64, respectively. Among firms that offer recommendations on YHOO stock, the average is 2.5, where 1.0 is a “strong buy” and 5.0 is a “sell.”

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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