Gold fights off rising rates, Bitcoin to be haven amid Ukraine tensions

Look no further than bullion to get a sense of how an historically unusual constellation of global risks is rippling through markets.

Prices have surged to the highest since the start of June on escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine, and a spike in U.S. inflation to the strongest in decades. At the same time, real interest rates -- a key driver of gold -- have jumped this year, countering the typically inverse correlation between the two. And in the battle over whether Bitcoin is a better modern-day store of value than bullion, the cryptocurrency is losing