Natural gas traders had a veritable maelstrom of factors to consider as they plotted potential price moves early Thursday, including a major storm crashing into the Gulf Coast, updated government inventory data and looming front-month expiration. 

AM markets

As of around 8:40 a.m. ET, the expiring September Nymex contract was trading 4.7 cents higher at $2.508/MMBtu. October was up 3.6 cents to $2.610.

Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, LA, as a Category 4 storm in the early morning hours Thursday. Laura approached land with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

As of 8 a.m. ET, “damaging winds and flooding rainfall” were spreading inland over western and central Louisiana, and “life-threatening storm surge” was continuing...