James Burton didn’t have a penny invested in gold of the $142.8 billion he managed as chief executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Reti...

At Beijing’s largest gold shop, the queues to buy bullion mini bars have turned into scrums as customers jostle for one of the country’s hottest commodities. The phone behind the bullion counter rings off the hook as a frantic sales clerk tries to answer buyers’ questions. The electronic chart displayed behind him says it all: the price of gold is rising and Chinese investors, worried about inflation, want in on the trend. “We were thin...