The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 3, edition that ATB Capital Markets has released a start of the year outlook for the Canadian upstream and integrated oil and gas sector, which includes lower price assumptions for crude and a warning to investors that making profitable trades is going to become more difficult. The Globe's Darcy Keith writes in the Eye On Equities column that with that downbeat outlook ATB trimmed its share target for Freehold Royalties to $19 from $19.50. ATB says in a note: "We expect continued strong medium- and long-term investment appeal for the Canadian upstream and integrated oil and gas sector, with markets continuing to navigate near term volatility and the impacts of macroeconomic challenges. These near-term challenges generally see our 2024 forecasts for industry profit margins and returns on capital modestly lower than 2023 (with some commodity price drive downward revisions with this update, primarily to gassier producers). As a result, profitability metrics remain above the long-term industry averages, but trail the 2022-2023 timeframe, and in our view, oil and gas stock picking in 2024 has become inherently more difficult as a result."