A spike in Google searches for "buy gold" is expected to turn around and boost sales!

Gold has been among the best-performing commodities in 2024, hitting multiple all-time highs. The fact that these rallies have occurred amid heavy buying by North American retail investors makes the current rally all the more remarkable.

A new analysis released Tuesday by U.S.-based financial media Finbold shows that interest in gold investment is soaring in English-speaking countries. From July 31 to August 6 before the market opened, Google Trends on the “buy gold” search term interest index jumped from 61 to 100, an increase of 63.93%. This figure is also much higher than the level of the last three months.

According to the analysis, some regions of the United States are more keen to buy gold bullion than others.

Analysts such as Andreja Stojanovic wrote that while interest in buying gold spiked across the U.S. in early August, the most searched place was Hawaii. It was followed closely by Alaska and Wyoming, which ranked second. West Virginia, Nevada, Washington, New Jersey, Arizona, and Missouri also showed high interest in joining the gold brigade, with California rounding out the top ten.

Stojanovic noted: “On the other hand, investors and traders in Vermont seem least interested in buying commodities amidst ongoing recession fears. Maine, Montana, South Dakota, and New Hampshire also show little interest in gold.”

Retail demand for gold is likely to rise further after a sharp drop earlier this week. Analysts generally agree that gold prices are falling because traders need to liquidate their best-performing assets to cover margin calls when equity positions collapse. Once the US stock market stabilizes, the gold price will bounce back above $2,400 per ounce.

In early August, the World Gold Council published the results of a survey of 4,394 respondents conducted between 17 and 22 May 2024 in the United States. The respondents were between 18 and 75 and were a nationally representative sample of men and women.

They found that more than a quarter of respondents had invested in gold in the past five years. This means that gold investments are similar to stocks in terms of popularity.

In addition, 30 percent of men have invested in gold in the last five years, compared to 23 percent of women.

As for the age distribution of investors, the survey showed that people aged 25 to 39 were most likely to have invested in gold in the past five years. 48 per cent of those aged 35-39 invested in gold, while 30 per cent of those aged 40-44 invested in gold.

The survey also showed that gold investors are wealthier and more educated than respondents who did not buy gold, and a greater proportion of gold investors belong to ethnic minorities than respondents who did not buy gold.

According to the findings, the spike in Google searches for gold may be more likely to translate into increased sales. 41 per cent of respondents said they were more interested in investing in gold bullion in the future. The World Gold Council writes: “This suggests that raising awareness about investing in gold could be valuable.”