Nothing Gets the Search Queries Going Faster Than a Crazy Market

(Bloomberg) -- Americans are worried about the stock market.

Internet searches for “Dow Jones” spiked last week to unprecedented levels as people googled the name of the bluechip index most Americans consider the barometer of stock-market performance. On a scale from 1 to 100, with a value of 100 meaning peak popularity for the search, the gauge now sits at 100, according to Google Trends. Interest surged Friday morning as a seventh day of selling left stocks down as much as 15% from a record.

Any searches Monday will bring a reprieve for people worried about their retirement accounts. The S&P 500 jumped 2.4% and the Dow was up almost 3%.

The infatuation with equity markets comes as fears of a spreading coronavirus soured the mood among mom and pop investors who poured into equity markets earlier in the year, according to data from U.S. discount brokerages. That was a sign of the mania that drove equities to record after record even as concern mounted that global growth was slowing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net

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