The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Dec. 8, edition that Desjardins Securities analysts John Sclodnick and Jonathan Egilo expect gold equities to "awaken" in 2024 with the price of the precious metal "surging." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Sclodnick and Mr. Egilo say gold should make gains in 2024 if the U.S. Federal Reserve lets interest rates fall, as is widely expected. Mr. Sclodnick and Mr. Egilo have named explorer Atex Resources one of their top picks for 2024. They give it a "buy" recommendation, with a $2.20 share target. Analysts on average target the shares at $2.42. Mr. Sclodnick and Mr. Egilo say in a note: "Atex remains a standout among peers due to its prospectivity to substantial and near-term resource growth -- driven by management's aggressive approach to designing drill programs that are solely focused on determining the limits of the newly discovered and high-grade Valeriano porphyry system. ... An early goal of the program is to test the central and western trends to the south, where the last holes of the last drill program suggested the two trends could possibly be coalescing. We expect initial visual results could be imminent and expect first assays in January."