Natural gas futures faltered on Wednesday, ending a three-day rally ahead of expectations for a more substantial build in underground inventories with this week’s government storage report.

NGI Storage Estimate

The June Nymex contract fell 2.9 cents day/day and settled at $2.938/MMBtu. July shed 3.0 to $2.982.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. lost ground for the first time this week, declining a half-cent to $2.760.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday is expected to report a storage injection for the week ended April 30 that could be more than four times greater than the prior week. If the result falls in line with projections, it would actually compare favorably to historic norms. However, traders effectively moved to the sidelines Wednesday to wait out the potential for...