Mild temperatures in the near-term and lingering balance concerns following a surprisingly bearish government inventory report last week helped send natural gas futures several cents lower in early trading Monday. The April Nymex contract was down 5.6 cents to $2.645/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The April contract closed out last week on a down note from a combination of expectations for very mild temperatures in the Lower 48 this week and an “extremely bearish” miss from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly storage report, according to analysts at EBW Analytics Group.

“Near-term signals are bearish,” the EBW analysts said. “This week has continued to trend warmer. This could temporarily bring withdrawals to a halt, putting downward pressure on cash...