Data Detective Nick Colas Finds Worrying Sign in Google Searches

(Bloomberg) --

The cost of a bacon cheeseburger. The average size of a U.S. home, and the average number of people who live in it. The number of Google searches for words like “cheap gas,” “coupons” and “Dow Jones.”

Nick Colas, the co-founder of DataTrek Research, tracks all of this and more on top of a regular diet of traditional market data. He joins this week’s “What Goes Up’’ podcast to discuss his approach.

“When regular Main Street Americans want to see, hey, why is the market down today, they Google Dow Jones,’’ Colas says. “It’s a wonderful indicator of how much attention the public is paying to the volatility in the stock market. Definitely people are paying attention to this volatility and that’s worrisome because, even if you don’t own stock, you know that if your company’s stock price is down your risk of layoff goes up. And going into the holiday season, that’s a worrisome thing.’’

Also joining the podcast is Bloomberg reporter Emily Barrett, who discusses the ferocious bond-market rally and how the Treasury is flirting with the idea of issuing 50 or 100-year bonds. 

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Topher Forhecz at tforhecz@bloomberg.net

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