User profile for user: R C-R
R C-R Author
User level: Level 6
17,794 points

Stock Widget shows wrong price

Has anyone else noticed that the Stock Widget sometimes displays wildly inaccurate quotes for stock prices? This is not the result of delayed quotes or of yesterday's (or whenever's) quote 'sticking' because of a failed attempt to update them. What I'm talking about is a quote that is greatly outside the range of the stocks price fluctuations, including the values shown on the chart at the bottom of the widget.

An example: a stock that has never traded even briefly above 45 suddenly shows up at 58 for a while, even as its widget chart shows a reasonably correct current price, say 42. Independent checks of even minute-to-minute charts from financial web sites show the stock never has been anywhere near 58.

iMac G5/2.0 GHz 17 (ambient light sensor), Mac OS X (10.4.3), 512 MB RAM, Kensington Trackball

Posted on Dec 16, 2005 12:37 PM

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10 replies
User profile for user: BriGuy
BriGuy
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 12, 2006 10:57 PM in response to R C-R

Amen to this post! I also noticed the issue of incorrect, unreliable information on the Stocks widget, and so I don't trust it. What a bummer, because it's such a good idea, and I am surprised more people have not raised this issue.

Here is my experience: When I check my price quotes after the US markets close, the prices displayed for my stocks and mutual funds are correct, but the daily price changes (ie, the plus or minus numbers) can be incorrect, and these daily price changes fluctuate almost every time I click in and out of Dashboard.

Before you say, "Duh, that's just after-hours trading moves," remember that regular mutual funds do not trade after hours, so the daily price changes should be constant after the markets close. As for stocks, the daily closing price is given on the Stocks widget and does not change, so the daily price changes should not, either.

From trying to divine the reason for these unfixed daily price changes, I noticed a pattern: that the price changes tend to show either the real daily price change (ie, the correct result), or the sum of the last two or three days' worth of price changes. Believe me, it didn't take long to see this pattern, so no, I didn't waste much time wondering and I do have a life.

So, what is the answer, Apple and quotes.com, or other Stocks widget users? Why can't I get accurate, fixed daily price changes? The flucuations make me second-guess the closing prices, so I tend to rely on other sources for quotes. Again, what a bummer!
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User profile for user: R C-R
R C-R Author
User level: Level 6
17,794 points

Jan 16, 2006 6:36 PM in response to douglb1

I just recently learned about another workaround for Widgets that don't seem to be updating correctly or completely: you can relaunch a Widget by clicking on it (to make it the focus) & then typing CMD-R. Unlike removing & replacing it on the Dashboard, relaunching a Widget doesn't lose your preferences. All that happens is it swirls around & comes back to its just-launched state, purged of any downloaded data, then tries to download new data as needed.

For me it can take from 10-20 seconds to several minutes for the new price & change numbers to appear after relaunching the stock Widget, but at least it seems to be fresh data.
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User profile for user: antititus
antititus
User level: Level 1
30 points

Jan 23, 2006 3:25 PM in response to R C-R

I have the same problem as BriGuy. The prices are right, but the changes are not. For example, today Google (GOOG) is up 28.04 according to ETrade, MSN, and NYSE.com. (Big day.) But according to the widget, it is down 8.03.

Actually, Quote.com lists the right dollar change, but has a percentage change of -3.73%. Which is what the widget says if you turn on show change as percentage. Why would quote.com show the stock is up in points but down in percentage?

PowerBook G4 12-inch Mac OS X (10.4.3)
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User profile for user: R C-R
R C-R Author
User level: Level 6
17,794 points

Jan 23, 2006 4:48 PM in response to antititus

When I just went to Quote.com directly in a browser & got a quote for GOOG, the numbers are right, except that the 3.73% figure, which is green & has an up-arrow on the site, indicating the stock closed up, has the "-" prefix.

Likewise, some stocks I track that closed down for the day show correct numbers on the site, except for the backwards sign indicator: red, down-arrow % changes but no "-" prefix. Oddly, these same stocks show up correctly in the Widget (with "-" % changes in red), so it isn't as simple as bad sign data from Quote.com confusing the Widget.
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User profile for user: R C-R
R C-R Author
User level: Level 6
17,794 points

Jan 23, 2006 10:08 PM in response to antititus

I'm sure the % number I saw at Quote.com was not right for Google. The only thing "right" about it is that the Widget shows the same number, if you assume that the "-" sign in the % number caused the Widget to interpret the gain as a loss. What puzzled me is that the lack of a "-" sign at Quote.com for a loss with other stocks did not similarly invert their gain/loss indicators in the Widget.

As I said in my original post, I've seen bad numbers even for the quote itself, ones that don't agree with Quote.com or any other reference. The only thing I've never noticed a problem with is the chart, which shows accurate values regardless of the errors that sometimes appear in the list.
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Stock Widget shows wrong price

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