A sharp drop in cooling demand expectations from forecasts over the weekend had natural gas futures tumbling in early trading Monday. The June Nymex contract was down 6.8 cents to $2.838/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

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Weather models over the weekend “abruptly shifted much cooler” by lowering cooling demand expectations for the eastern half of the Lower 48 starting this weekend into early next week, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

Both the American and European weather models “now drop a cooler trough” that would result in “below normal temperatures showing up in the Midwest and East,” the firm said. “This cooler period is sandwiched between the heat coming later this week, which now peaks Thursday into Friday…and some above normal heat as we move to and...