The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that heading into earnings season, precious metals analysts at Canaccord remain bullish on gold despite its recent surge. The Globe's David Leeder writes that the Canaccord analysts say in a note: "Our gold macro view is unchanged since we published our 2024 Precious Metals Outlook a few months ago. We've showed that past Fed easing cycles over the last 20-plus years have corresponded with higher gold prices, and we expected to see gold set new record highs in 2024. While Fed cut expectations have recently diminished, we expect the FOMC to still cut this year. We also believe U.S. debt levels are an increasing concern with the annualized U.S. Federal interest payment at more $1-trillion annualized, up 24 per cent year-over-year, and almost doubling since the end of 2019; U.S. federal debt has increased 50 per cent since the end of 2019. Central banks continue to buy gold at near record levels, purchasing 1,037t in 2023, just 45t shy of the 2022 record. Global gold production remains sluggish, increasing 0.5 per cent in 2023 and still below its 2018 peak of 3,656t." Canaccord hiked its share target for Barrick Gold to $30 from $27 with an unchanged "buy" rating.