Britannica Money
Bruce Blythe

Bruce Blythe

Bruce Blythe is Financial Writer at Encyclopædia Britannica.

THE BIG PICTURE

Bruce is a veteran financial journalist with over three decades of experience telling stories about business, markets, and the economy for some of the world’s top real-time news organizations, including Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones Newswires. He’s also a former assistant managing editor at Crain’s Chicago Business and held editorial roles with major financial services companies including Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and CME Group. His expertise includes agriculture and commodity markets, energy, retail, and trading and investing strategy.

EDUCATION

BA in Agricultural Journalism with Agricultural Business Minor | Iowa State University

Sports Editor, Iowa State Daily | Iowa State University

IN BRUCE’S OWN WORDS ...

My first job out of college was sportswriter for a daily newspaper in northwest Missouri (the St. Joseph News-Press). At the time, my dream job was to write for Sports Illustrated. But after two years of working nights and weekends, I decided it was time to try something new, so I accepted a wire service markets reporter position covering livestock futures on the floor of the old Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the Merc). I got the job in part because of my ag background, but once I was on the trading floor, I soon realized I had no clue how futures markets worked. I basically got thrown to the wolves and had to learn to write about markets on the fly, which I eventually did (though I’m still learning). Sometimes I’m asked what writing about sports and markets have in common. My usual short answer is they’re both competitions over money. Follow the money.