Where do the numbers come from?

Really dumb RSS question

[dickbaker]

I see what I assume are RSS feeds on all sorts of sites. I see stock market closing prices, mortgage rates, commodities prices, etc.

Where do these numbers come from? I can't imagine that a webmaster who's created his own RSS feed doing daily updates on two, three or three hundred different prices or indices.

So, I'm assuming that the prices or rates come from a more central location.

If I'm correct, then what does it cost to access these numbers?

If and when someone replies to this post, I'll have another followup question.

Thanks for any replies.

[bill]

A lot of those numbers are generated automatically by the respective industries via their systems and output to XML data feeds. Different industries have different ways of going about it, but essentially you, or someone upstream from you, subscribes to these feeds. The data is then syndicated out to various webmasters.

Some of these feeds can be quite expensive. It depends on the industry and market I guess.

[dickbaker]

Thanks, Bill. I guess my idea will have to wait until my new site is making enough money to feature the feeds I'd like.

[eventus]

There are various outlets for the data.

For the financials you can go direct to the exchanges themselves and buy feeds or go through services like marketwatch or AP or AHN etc.

For news services list AP, AHN, Reuters etc. provide this.

It can be expensive, shop around.