Public attention, oil and gold markets during the COVID-19: Evidence from time-frequency analysis

This paper uses time-frequency analysis, including wavelet analysis and time-frequency domain causality, to evaluate the relationship between public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic, crude oil, and gold markets in the G7 countries over time and frequency. Empirical findings show that WTI oil lead gold returns during the COVID-19 outbreak, and vice versa when Omicron spread. The relationship between public attention to the COVID-19 and WTI oil/gold markets appears to be heterogeneous for G7 countries. European public attention caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has a strong impact on gold returns at the 32-64 day frequency, while public attention generated by Omicron has a significant effect on WTI oil returns at 4-128 day frequency. The public in the US and Canada is more concerned about the global stock and WTI oil markets slump than the COVID-19 pandemic. The Italian public seems to be the most sensitive to the EU's economic support plan. The heterogeneity of the public attention-oil/gold nexus in the G7 implies that portfolio diversification across markets and investment horizons may be extremely beneficial.