Bloomberg Terminal Disruption Affects European Bond Sales

Several European debt management firms and market sources reported that Bloomberg experienced an outage on Wednesday, affecting government bond sales and various customer activities. Users noted that the terminal, crucial for financial experts, showed a blank screen, rendering live pricing and market data inaccessible.

Peter Shafrick, the chief European macro strategist at RBC, highlighted the issue, stating, “You can’t load new ones, you can’t update spreadsheets. Some of the auctions have been delayed.” Early reports indicated that the terminal was slowly regaining functionality.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) informed that UK government auction bids were delayed due to the ongoing issues with the Bloomberg system. They specified that the auction for the 4% 2031 bond had an extended bid window this morning.

Additionally, bond auctions in Sweden were postponed, citing “technical issues,” and Portugal also experienced delays in their bill auctions. The Swedish debt office mentioned that auction bids would be submitted electronically via the Bloomberg auction system.

Uncertainty lingered over whether the delays had fully subsided. On the same day, the European Union postponed the deadline for selling EU bonds by an hour, now set for 1300 CEST (1100 GMT).

A Bloomberg user shared their frustrations with Reuters, stating that aside from the chat feature, the terminal remained largely non-functional. Another user painted a bleak picture of the situation, calling it a “nightmare.”