A stock market crash shield in the colors of gold and silver shines brightly as investors increasingly seek to buy those precious metals to profit when stocks sink.

The importance of having investments that tend to climb when equities fall cannot be overstated during times such as now when major U.S. stock indexes plunge. People searching for a stock market crash shield can use precious metals for protection amid the ongoing crisis caused by the deadly coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

Gold and silver, real estate investment trusts (REITS), investment-grade corporate bond funds and fixed indexed annuities are among the investments typically favored by those who want to own assets that are not closely correlated with major equity indexes. The inverse relationship between precious metals and equities manifested itself during March 9, when the market endured its biggest drop since September 29, 2008 as gold gained, and on March 10, when stocks soared and gold retreated.

Motley Fool described the one-day descent of 2,014 points, or 7.79%, in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on March 9 as a “stock market crash.” But the Dow gained more than half of that total back on March 10 when it rose 4.89% in volatile trading, after central bankers in other countries voiced a willingness to relax fiscal or monetary policy as an economic stimulus to counter the coronavirus fallout of quarantines in many countries.

Paul Dykewicz meets with Jim Woods. Successful Investing, to discuss investment strategies.

Paul Dykewicz interviews Bob Carlson (left), who chairs the Board of Trustees of Virginia’s Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System and leads the Retirement Watch advisory service.

Paul Dykewicz gathers investment tips from Hilary Kramer, whose advisory services include 2-Day Trader, Turbo Trader,High Octane Trader, Value Authority and Inner Circle.

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Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce,Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. The book is endorsed by Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Ara Paseghian, “Rocket” Ismail, Reggie Brooks, Dick Vitale and many others. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz.