Natural gas futures retreated early Thursday as one of the major weather models trended warmer, while upcoming government inventory data was expected to take a backseat to forecasts in terms of influencing future price action. The March Nymex contract was down 4.4 cents to $2.658/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Selling corresponded to changes in the European model overnight, with the model projecting notably less heating demand by showing less cold air reaching eastern portions of the country for the first 10 days of February, according to NatGasWeather.

The American Global Forecast System (GFS) model “is now a bit colder compared to the European for early February and favors several rather impressive cold shots Feb. 6-11,” the firm said. “The European also sees cold shots...