Business Data & Statistics

 

 

E-STAT: offering Census profile data for 1986 - 2006 at various levels of geography. Historical Census data is also available for 1665-1871 censuses. CANSIM time series     tables are available on a broad variety of subject areas including Economic Accounts, Labour, Income, Health etc.

 

Canadian Business Patterns: provides counts of business establishments by nine employment size ranges, NAICS/SIC and geography groupings.

 

Financial Performance Indicators for Canadian Business: contains 15 key financial ratios by industry groupings that allow you to compare firm’s performance to the entire industry.

 

Income Trends in Canada: 43 cross-classified tables on income distributions and inequality, earnings of men and women, income tax, government transfers, low income and sources of income. 

 

Labour Force Historical Review: Monthly and annual average series are available on labour force status by demographic, education and family characteristics; trends in the labour markets of metropolitan areas; economic regions; data by industry and occupation, wages and union membership; and much more.

 

Canadian Census Analyzer: provides access to Census Profile Data for 1981-2006 at Enumeration Area level and Census Tract level; 1991 – 2006 at Provincial and Federal Electoral District level; and the 1971 - 2006 Individual Microdata Files.

 

 

 

SourceOECD: access OECD publications and statistical databases online and build your own tables in real time.

 

 

Passport Global Market Information Database (GMID): Key business intelligence on countries, companies, markets and consumers around the world.

 

Penn World Tables: The Penn World Table provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 179 countries for some or all of the years 1950-2000.

 

Labour Force Survey (LFS): household survey carried out monthly. Data provide information on major labour market trends such as shifts in employment across industrial sectors, hours worked, labour force participation and unemployment rates. 1976 – 2008.

 

Survey of Household Spending (SHS): detailed information on household expenditures, dwelling characteristics, and ownership of household equipment such as appliances, communications and entertainment equipment, and vehicles. 1997 – 2006.

 

Family Food Expenditure Survey: provides estimates of food expenditures and quantities purchased by households. 1984 – 2001.

 

Survey of Financial Security: provides a comprehensive picture of the net worth of Canadians. Information is available on the value of all major financial and non- financial assets and on the money owing on mortgages, vehicles, credit cards, student loans and other debts. 1999 and 2005.

 

Survey of Labour and Income Dynamcs (SLID): household survey to provide national data on the fluctuations in income that a typical family or individual experiences over time. 1996 – 2005.

 

Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF): complete set of Labour Force Survey variables and detailed labour force characteristics of all persons aged 15 years and over. Also adds detailed information on 23 sources of income and income tax for the preceding calendar year. 1974 – 1998.

 

Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS): provides data for health regions across Canada including alcohol consumption, chronic health conditions, fruit and vegetable consumption, general health, use of health services, height and weight, injuries, physical activity, restriction of activities and smoking. 2000 – 2005.

 

General Social Survey (GSS): data on family, social support and retirement for Canadians aged 45 years and over. 1985 – 2006.

 

Canadian Census Microdata Files: Census data and microdata from 1901; 1961; 1961 – 2006 reference years of the Census.

 

 

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR): provides access to a vast archive of social science data on a variety of subject areas such as Education,  Health Care and Facilities, US Censuses, Consumer Spending etc.

 

Please visit “Odesi”, which houses Statistics Canada datasets, data files from Gallup Canada and other polling companies, public-domain files such as the Canadian National Election Surveys and selected files from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

 

The files can be searched, browsed, analyzed and downloaded in various formats. You must be currently registered student, staff and faculty at McMaster University.

 

 

SEC EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) system: corporate and financial information is instantaneously available to investors, the financial community and others following the filing of such information.

 

 

CAROL (Company Annual Reports On-line): offering direct links to the financial pages of listed companies in Europe and the USA. Provides direct access to companies’ balance sheets, profit and loss statements, financial highlights etc. Access is free but requires registration.

 

Factiva: Provides worldwide full text coverage of local and regional newspapers, trade publications, business newswires, press release wires, media transcripts, news photos, business-rich Web sites, investment analyst reports, market research reports, country and regional profiles, company profiles, historical market data. Available through library’s catalogue.

 

 

 

 

Lexis-Nexis Academic: Includes SEC Filings and many local and national directories. International information is extremely limited.

 

 

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS): Web based interface providing access to recent and historical financial data from CRSP (Center for Research and Security Prices), Standard and Poor’s COMPUSTAT and other important financial and business data sources.

 

 

FPinfomart.ca (Special Edition): Provides access to detailed information about Canadian public and private companies, company directors, archival financial information, and special analytical tools. Includes company snapshots; companies by industry; corporate surveys; corporate analyzer reports; investor and industry reports; and dividends.

 

FP Corporate Analyzer: FP Analyzer Reports provide ready access to the most popular data items. These include financial statement aggregates, current financial statistics, ratios and share price information for the top 1,500 publicly traded Canadian companies. Available as part of FPinfomart.ca.

 

Center for Research and Security Prices (CRSP): contains daily and monthly trading

data back to 1925 on stocks trading on the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ exchanges. The data includes closing price, shares outstanding, and return for the stock. Also includes index level data. Available through WRDS.

 

 

Institute for the Study of Security Markets database (ISSM): Tick-by-tick data covering NYSE and AMEX between 1983 and 1992, and NASDAQ between 1987 and 1992. Each year’s data is divided into two files, one for trades and one for quotes. Available through WRDS.

 

Emerging Markets Database: data on 60 emerging markets and more than 3,000 stocks. Included are market performance, indicators, market capitalization, monthly value traded, local stock market price indexes, prices in local currency and US dollars, etc. In addition, this database includes two series of indexes, the S&P Global (S&P/IFCG) Index (which represents stock market performance without taking into account restrictions on foreign investors) and the IFC Investible (IFCI) index series (which reflects new opportunities for investment since the mid-1980s). Available through WRDS.

 

Dividend Record: Detailed dividend payments on publicly traded companies. Updated daily. Available as part of FPInfomart.ca.

 

 

Thomson financial ownership databases: Consists of 3 parts: (1) mutual fund holdings 1980+ for US & Canadian Securities: All registered mutual funds filing with the SEC plus 3,000 global funds. Includes NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ, Toronto and Montreal common stocks; (2) institutional 13(f) common stock holdings and transactions 1980+; (3) insider filing data 1986+ divided into the following major parts: (a) Table 1 -- transaction and holdings information, (b) Table 2 -- open market derivatives transactions as well as information on the award, exercise, and expiration of stock options (this files starts in 1996), (c) Proposed Sale data derived from Form 144 (this file starts in 1996), (d) Average Returns file contains the information relating to how a stock has historically performed following an insider's transactions. The files includes average 3-month and 6-month buy and sell returns as well as the number of historic buy and sell decisions for each individual insider. Available through WRDS.

 

 

 

 

Investment Company Institute: primary source for statistical data and research on investors and retirement plans in the investment company industry. Institute research examines such topics as the retirement market, shareholder demographics and trends in shareholder ownership, fund fees and expenses and the industry’s role in foreign markets.

 

 

CRSP Mutual Fund Database: provides survivor-bias free open-ended data for funds of all investment objectives including stock funds, taxable and municipal bond funds, international funds, and money market funds. The database records each mutual fund's name and organizational history for open-ended mutual funds from January 1, 1962. Available through WRDS.

 

 

 

Fixed Income Securities Database: Produced by Mergent, Inc. Provides issue detail on over 140,000 Corporate, Corporate MTN (Medium Term Note), Supranational, U.S. Agency and U.S. Treasury debt securities since 1995. Specific issue information available: Full call, put and sinking fund schedules, plus call frequency codes, Structured security flags and detailed information, Updated Fitch, Moody's and S&P credit ratings, U.S. Treasury auction information, Convertible debt information, Underwriters, trustees and fiscal agents, Unit deals and warrant information. Specific issuer information available: Industry code, S.I.C. code and N.A.I.C.S. code, Stock ticker and exchange listings, Issuer name and parent relationships, Bankruptcy detail. Available through WRDS. 

 

 

CRSP (Center for Research and Security Prices): includes US Government bonds (daily and monthly frequency) back to 1925. Available through WRDS.

 

 

Yahoo! Finance Options: Options analysis tools, options news, learn about options investing etc.

 

Chicago Board Options Exchange: provides valuable online resources including real-time and delayed option quotes, market statistic summaries, strategy discussions and applets, option software downloads and interactive educational training modules.

 

Options Clearing Corporation: provides access to options and futures market data, historical volume data, weekly and monthly reports etc.

 

 

MEMDB (Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank): contains 5 databases providing select commodity prices from the Medieval Ages, three pertaining to currency exchanges and two pertaining to prices. Free access provided from Rutgers University for non-commercial and academic purposes only.

 

Commodity Statistics through UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics: provides annual pricing data from 1960 to 2007 for various commodities through UNCTAD.

 

 

CASAM/CISDM Hedge Fund Data: provides information about hedge funds, Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) and managed futures; summarized investment strategy and style; historical monthly returns; net asset value; assets under management; leverage; minimum initial investment; fee structure. Select data back to 1972.