Google search volumes and the financial markets during the COVID-19 outbreak

Michele Costola, Matteo Iacopini () and Carlo Romano Marcello Alessandro Santagiustina ()
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Michele Costola: Université de Venise Ca’ Foscari | Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia
Matteo Iacopini: LUISS - Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli [Roma]
Carlo Romano Marcello Alessandro Santagiustina: médialab - médialab (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, University of Ca’ Foscari [Venice, Italy]

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Abstract: During the outbreak of the COVID-19, concerns related to the severity of the pandemic have played a prominent role in investment decisions. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between public attention and the financial markets using search engine data from Google Trends. Our findings show that search query volumes in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain, and the United States are connected with stock markets. The Italian Google Trends index is found to be the main driver of all the considered markets. Furthermore, the country-specific market impacts of COVID-19-related concerns closely follow the Italian lockdown process.

Keywords: COVID-19; Financial Markets; Google Trends; Search engines; Google search engine; Google search (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
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Published in Finance Research Letters, 2021, 42, pp.101884. ⟨10.1016/j.frl.2020.101884⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05031929

DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2020.101884

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