diff --git a/Tools/YahooDataPull.py b/Tools/YahooDataPull.py
index 6bba4f765..eb5b2e922 100644
--- a/Tools/YahooDataPull.py
+++ b/Tools/YahooDataPull.py
@@ -5,31 +5,33 @@
 import urllib2
 import urllib
 import datetime
-import sys
 import os
 
 
 def get_data(data_path, ls_symbols):
 
-    #Create path if it doesn't exist
+    # Create path if it doesn't exist
     if not (os.access(data_path, os.F_OK)):
         os.makedirs(data_path)
 
-    #utils.clean_paths(data_path)   
+    # utils.clean_paths(data_path)   
 
     _now =datetime.datetime.now();
-    miss_ctr=0; #Counts how many symbols we could get
+    miss_ctr=0; #Counts how many symbols we could not get
     for symbol in ls_symbols:
+        # Preserve original symbol since it might
+        # get manipulated if it starts with a "$"
         symbol_name = symbol
         if symbol[0] == '$':
             symbol = '^' + symbol[1:]
 
         symbol_data=list()
-        #print "Getting " + str (symbol_name)
+        # print "Getting {0}".format(symbol)
         
         try:
-            params= urllib.urlencode ({'a':1, 'b':1, 'c':2000, 'd':_now.month, 'e':_now.day, 'f':_now.year, 's': str(symbol)})
-            url_get= urllib2.urlopen("http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?%s" % params)
+            params= urllib.urlencode ({'a':1, 'b':1, 'c':2000, 'd':_now.month, 'e':_now.day, 'f':_now.year, 's': symbol})
+            url = "http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?%s" % params
+            url_get= urllib2.urlopen(url)
             
             header= url_get.readline()
             symbol_data.append (url_get.readline())
@@ -49,20 +51,22 @@ def get_data(data_path, ls_symbols):
             f.close();    
                         
         except urllib2.HTTPError:
-            miss_ctr= miss_ctr+1
-            print "Unable to fetch data for stock: " + str (symbol_name)
+            miss_ctr += 1
+            print "Unable to fetch data for stock: {0} at {1}".format(symbol_name, url)
         except urllib2.URLError:
-            print "URL Error for stock: " + str (symbol_name)
+            miss_ctr += 1
+            print "URL Error for stock: {0} at {1}".format(symbol_name, url)
             
-    print "All done. Got " + str (len(ls_symbols) - miss_ctr) + " stocks. Could not get " + str (miss_ctr) + " stocks."   
+    print "All done. Got {0} stocks. Could not get {1}".format(len(ls_symbols) - miss_ctr, miss_ctr)
 
 def read_symbols(s_symbols_file):
 
     ls_symbols=[]
     file = open(s_symbols_file, 'r')
-    for f in file.readlines():
-        j = f[:-1]
-        ls_symbols.append(j)
+    for line in file.readlines():
+        str_line = str(line)
+        if str_line.strip(): 
+            ls_symbols.append(str_line.strip())
     file.close()
     
     return ls_symbols