diff --git a/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.controller.ts b/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.controller.ts
index adea22187..d388d0829 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.controller.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.controller.ts
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ export class SymbolController {
   @Get('lookup')
   @UseGuards(AuthGuard('jwt'))
   public async lookupSymbol(
-    @Query() { query }
+    @Query() { query = '' }
   ): Promise<{ items: LookupItem[] }> {
     try {
-      return this.symbolService.lookup(query);
+      const encodedQuery = encodeURIComponent(query.toLowerCase());
+      return this.symbolService.lookup(encodedQuery);
     } catch {
       throw new HttpException(
         getReasonPhrase(StatusCodes.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR),
diff --git a/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.service.ts b/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.service.ts
index 3e487d60b..5740ea69f 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.service.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/app/symbol/symbol.service.ts
@@ -25,11 +25,10 @@ export class SymbolService {
     };
   }
 
-  public async lookup(aQuery = ''): Promise<{ items: LookupItem[] }> {
-    const query = aQuery.toLowerCase();
+  public async lookup(aQuery: string): Promise<{ items: LookupItem[] }> {
     const results: { items: LookupItem[] } = { items: [] };
 
-    if (!query) {
+    if (!aQuery) {
       return results;
     }
 
@@ -40,7 +39,7 @@ export class SymbolService {
       // Add custom symbols
       const scraperConfigurations = await this.ghostfolioScraperApiService.getScraperConfigurations();
       scraperConfigurations.forEach((scraperConfiguration) => {
-        if (scraperConfiguration.name.toLowerCase().startsWith(query)) {
+        if (scraperConfiguration.name.toLowerCase().startsWith(aQuery)) {
           results.items.push({
             dataSource: DataSource.GHOSTFOLIO,
             name: scraperConfiguration.name,
diff --git a/apps/api/src/services/data-provider.service.ts b/apps/api/src/services/data-provider.service.ts
index e2d6af5f4..2183a514f 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/services/data-provider.service.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/services/data-provider.service.ts
@@ -187,20 +187,17 @@ export class DataProviderService implements DataProviderInterface {
   }
 
   public async search(aSymbol: string) {
-    let results: { items: LookupItem[] } = { items: [] };
+    return this.getDataProvider().search(aSymbol);
+  }
 
+  private getDataProvider() {
     switch (this.configurationService.get('DATA_SOURCES')[0]) {
       case DataSource.ALPHA_VANTAGE:
-        results = await this.alphaVantageService.search(aSymbol);
-        break;
+        return this.alphaVantageService;
       case DataSource.YAHOO:
-        results = await this.yahooFinanceService.search(aSymbol);
-        break;
+        return this.yahooFinanceService;
       default:
-        console.error('No data provider has been found.');
         throw new Error('No data provider has been found.');
     }
-
-    return results;
   }
 }
diff --git a/apps/api/src/services/interfaces/environment.interface.ts b/apps/api/src/services/interfaces/environment.interface.ts
index f5dae437e..89ff79d33 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/services/interfaces/environment.interface.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/services/interfaces/environment.interface.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ export interface Environment extends CleanedEnvAccessors {
   ACCESS_TOKEN_SALT: string;
   ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY: string;
   CACHE_TTL: number;
-  DATA_SOURCES: string[];
+  DATA_SOURCES: string | string[]; // string is not correct, error in envalid?
   ENABLE_FEATURE_CUSTOM_SYMBOLS: boolean;
   ENABLE_FEATURE_FEAR_AND_GREED_INDEX: boolean;
   ENABLE_FEATURE_SOCIAL_LOGIN: boolean;