Gold and Bitcoin Surge as Investors Flock to Scarcity Assets

Investors are no longer choosing between gold and bitcoin as hedges against fiscal anxiety. Instead, they're buying both.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking these assets attracted a record $7 billion over the past five trading days, according to Bloomberg data. This puts some of the biggest gold and bitcoin vehicles alongside the stock market giants at the top of the ETF flow rankings.

The State Street Investment Management's SPDR Gold Share (GLD) took in nearly $3.4 billion, while BlackRock Inc's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) received $1.5 billion. Both cracked the top 10 US ETFs by inflows for the week, with GLD trailing only a handful of funds, including the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO).

The simultaneous rush is notable after periods when gold's haven appeal strengthened while bitcoin struggled to make the same case. Now the two versions of the scarcity trade are moving together again, propelled by renewed anxiety over US borrowing, the dollar, and efforts to contain long-term yields.