Coming off a dramatic sell-off in the previous session, natural gas futures held their ground early Tuesday, although bearish themes continued in the latest forecasts. The December Nymex contract was up 1.2 cents to $2.709/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The temperature outlook to start the winter heating season has been thoroughly disappointing from the bulls’ perspective, and it showed in Monday’s session when the front month collapsed 29.8 cents day/day. The overnight guidance heading into Tuesday’s trading didn’t appear likely to change the market’s perceptions of a bearish early winter.

The major weather models added around 4-6 heating degree days back to the outlook overnight, according to NatGasWeather.

However, the data “held a solidly bearish overall U.S....