Natural gas futures appeared poised to snap their recent losing streak in early trading Monday, surging higher as analysts pointed to a strengthening cooling demand outlook heading into the back half of July. 

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The August Nymex contract was up 9.5 cents to $2.677/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Weather models over the weekend indicated “intensifying heat” for the July 14-20 and July 21-27 storage periods, which served to reinforce technical support at the 20-day moving average, according to EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin.

Next week is poised to deliver a 14 cooling degree day increase nationally week/week, the analyst said. That and “the geographic expansion of above-average anomalies across the eastern U.S. into late July are lifting power sector demand...