The outbreak of COVID-19 was an extreme event that created panic among the people, disrupted normal functioning and adversely affected the economy. The stock market fell due to the uncertainty that ensued, and it continues to do so as new variants are being discovered. The study explores the impact of the outbreak of a new variant of COVID-19 on the stock market and analyses investor sentiment towards investing and global investing through sentiment analysis using QSR NVivo software. The results contribute to the extant literature that the investors’ sentiment is positive towards global investing despite the adverse conditions. Investors need to choose those stocks that are internationally diversified with sound fundamentals. The study reveals that markets bounce after a significant cooling period, and investment managers should encourage the investors to hold their portfolios. The study also identifies the important themes and social networking of investors from India with the world through the NodeXL. The study identified major themes such as alerts, timing, investors and investing, which shows that the people mainly focus on stocks, its alert and timing for making investment decisions.

Stock market crash, COVID-19 pandemic, sentiment analysis, social network analysis, thematic analysis