Stronger demand expectations from weather models helped spark a rally for natural gas futures in early trading Wednesday. The expiring November Nymex contract was up 17.3 cents to $6.055/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET. December was trading at $6.169, up 16.6 cents.

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The latest model runs as of early Wednesday increased demand expectations for the 15-day projection period, especially for late next week, according to Bespoke Weather Services. 

The higher demand comes as “the eastern U.S. trough diving underneath the blocking feature in Northern Canada has trended stronger,” Bespoke said. “In the wake of this feature, however, there has been a trend to weaken the block, resulting in a pattern out at day 15 that still looks less threatening in terms of cold potential…We do...