Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BIThe price of gold hit all-time highs this week.Falling interest rates and rising geopolitical tensions boost gold's appeal as a safe haven asset.With gold outperforming stock prices since October 2022, Wall Street expects the rally to continue.The price of gold has soared this year.The precious metal hit a record high of $2,772 per troy ounce this week and has risen in six of the past seven weeks.With year-to-date gains of about 33%, gold returns have outpaced the broader stock market, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, by about 10 percentage points.And since the bull market in stocks began in October 2022, gold has outpaced equity gains, returning 67% compared to the S&P 500's return of about 63%, according to data from YCharts.Those superior returns make the metal one of the world's hottest investments.The largest gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares, has $78 billion in assets under management and has seen about $5 billion of inflows in the past six months, according to data from ETF.com.Physical gold is also having a moment.