Google Search for 'buy gold' spikes 64 percent amid recession fears

Gold has been a particularly interesting asset since the start of 2024, thanks to its strong rally to a new all-time high and forecasts predicting it could rise to and beyond USD 3,000. However, interest in the commodity reached another level at the beginning of August.

- Andreja Stojanovic

Indeed, Finbold's research found that between July 31 and pre-market on August 6, interest in the 'buy gold' - search term rocketed 63.93 percent from 61 to 100 on Google Trends. The figure is also substantially higher than at any other time during the period under review, which covers the 90 days between May 6 and August 6, 2024.

Such a rapid increase in curiosity about investing in bullion can be linked to a recession panic that started with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on the last two days of July and was reinforced by the jobs report on Friday, August 2.

Hawaiian investors most interested in buying gold

While the beginning of August sent interest in buying gold rocketing across the US, nowhere is the search trend more pronounced than Hawaii.

In fact, on Google Trends' scale, search interest in Hawaii stood at 100 at the time of publication. It is closely followed by the second-newest state, Alaska, at 95, and Wyoming, at 90.