Downloading Stock Quotes FAQ
On November 1, 2017 Yahoo disabled the only remaining working capability for downloading quotes directly from within Master Investor and Personal Portfolio Manager. Quotes can still be downloaded from Yahoo Finance using your internet brwoser and then imported into MI or PPM.
To download current quotes into a file that can then be imported, create a portfolio on Yahoo Finance which includes all the symbols you want to download. You will need a free Yahoo account to do this. Once the portfolio is created, you can display it and click the "export" link to download the quote file. Always make a note of the file name downloaded because you will need to use it when importing the file. We suggest you download the file to your desktop so that it can be easily located.
Create a new import format within MI or PPM by choosing Setup / Add Delimited Format on the import quotes window.
The parameters for the format are as follows:
TROUBLESHOOTING:
If you are not getting all the quotes you think you should, check the following:
- Make sure that none of your defined ticker symbols contain any embedded blank spaces (e.g., "GE B"). This will cause entire blocks of 20 stocks to not be downloaded.
- Make sure your ticker symbols are correct. Index symbols and Option symbols tend to differ from one data service to another. Check with the data service to ensure you are using the correct symbols for those items.
- Mutual fund quote for the current day are not generally available until well after the close of the market. Make sure your import dates reflect the availability of quotes for your mutual fund stocks.
- Some stocks that are thinly traded may not have data every day.
Importing Quotes
MI and PPM are designed to reject records that may contain invalid or improperly formatted data. For this reason, there are several items that must be setup correctly to successfully import quotes. 
- Ticker symbols in MI/PPM must precisely match the ticker symbols found in the file to be imported. Ticker symbols are entered on the stock/mutual fund definition screen ("Define" menu, "Stock - Mutual Fund - Index" option). One common mistake is to accidentally place a leading blank in front of the Ticker symbol. If the ticker symbol in MI has a leading blank it won't match the symbol found in the import file.
- The format of the file being imported must match the format expected by MI/PPM. On the Import screen select the format that matches your import file by clicking the down arrow in the combination box.
- The dates of quotes in the import file must be included within the range of dates entered on MI's import screen. MI rejects quotes that are outside the range of dates defined on the import screen. Some import files may contain quote times instead of dates or may not contain dates at all. If this is the case, MI assumes that the quotes is from the ending date of the range of dates entered on the import screen.
- Do not open the downloaded file with a spreadsheet program as this will alter the format of the file. If you want to examine the file, in its raw form, open it with notepad.
If you are unable to determine the format of an import file, just send us the file as an email attachment. We will examine the file to determine the appropriate setup.
