Natural gas futures flip-flopped between gains and losses early on Friday, as traders weighed fluctuating weather forecasts against renewed strength in U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes. Still, futures ultimately finished in the red as the cloud of a bearish storage report from a day earlier — and the light winter heating demand it reflected — hung over markets.

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The March Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.564 on Friday, down 10.0 cents day/day. A day earlier, in its debut as the prompt month, March shed 3.8 cents.

The April contract, meanwhile, fell 8.3 cents to $2.592 on Friday.

Analysts at The Schork Report noted that March traded at a discount to April, as it has since December. They said this “is a clear bearish fundamental telltale,” given that trading...