Global interest in buying stocks has significantly risen on a search engine Google. Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates that the searches worldwide have increased by at least 466% between March 31, 2019, and March 27 this year.
The spike in searches correlates with the increasing cases of the novel coronavirus that have crippled most global economies. Analysis of the data shows that the rising trend in buying stocks (Find out how to buy stocks with PayPal here) began in the last week of February. At this point, the searches had a popularity score of 30. The following week, the searches remained constant with the same score.
During the second week of March, the searches had significantly shot up by 663% and later, 809%. Between March 22 and 27th, the searches had increased by 466%. However, by the end of the week, the searches are expected to increase further because all the days have not been incorporated.
Google trends platform analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. For Google searches, a value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular.
With many states trying to contain the spread of Coronavirus most global stock markets have collapsed. At the same time, various central banks have announced plans to mitigate the effects of the Coronavirus.
Generally, most stocks have seen their worst falls in history. The searches could mean that investors are aiming to take advantage of rock-bottom prices by buying certain stocks and seek to profit from it in the future.
North America leads in buy stocks searches
From the data, North American residents are the most interested in buying stocks. The US and Singapore take the lead with a peak search score of 100 followed by Canada at 85 witnessing the third-highest searches on buying stocks globally.
Outside North America, United Arab Emirates residents have also shown interest in this subject attaining a popularity score of 39 over the last 12 months. Searches from Australia occupy the fifth slot at 34.
Notably, the United States takes the lead at the same time the country has become the most hit with the Coronavirus. The country has recorded at least 142,737 cases with over 2,489 deaths. New York which is considered the financial capital of the world is the worst-hit state with over 50,000 cases.
With a marketwide correction across different sectors, investors have the perfect opportunity to buy high-quality stocks at lower valuations.
The market is panicking and plummeting now as the horror of COVID-19 is taking hold. It might crash harder as the mortality count gets worse and governments enact strict measures to contain the virus. Or it might rebound as countries get the worst of the epidemic behind them and financial regulators take action.
Choosing stocks to buy
Amid the interest to buy stocks that have fallen in the wake of the Coronavirus, investors are urged to differentiate between companies that have seen their share price fall too far as a result of other effects on the market and those that had sold-off specifically due to the coronavirus.
Additionally, investors should look at how much the coronavirus crisis will impact the company now and in the future alongside financial stability.
Currently, there are some stocks considered to be the best for investment as the current situation favors them. For example, stocks related to healthcare, technology, and consumer goods have great potential for bouncing back and can be accessed on nearly all stock brokers. The healthcare sector has been improving since the Coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China about three months ago. The stock’s good performance is due to the fact that the sector is needed in managing the coronavirus. Most affected sectors include industrial goods, finances, and services.