An exceptionally mild temperature outlook heading into the second week of February kept the pressure on natural gas futures early Wednesday as overnight forecasts trended warmer. The March Nymex contract was down 2.1 cents to $2.663/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

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Weather models overnight further warmed what was already a bearish pattern starting next week and extending through Feb. 15, according to NatGasWeather.

“The reason for such a bearish stance in recent weather data is due to the southern and eastern halves of the U.S. warming into the very nice mid-50s to lower 80s, well above normal by early February standards,” NatGasWeather said. “And what makes the pattern emphatically bearish is both” the American and European weather models “maintain a much warmer than...