Models Seen Warmer Overnight as Natural Gas Futures Slide Early

With the natural gas market already facing a bearish temperature outlook to close out 2023, warmer overnight forecast trends saw futures retreat in early trading Tuesday.

After settling 1.2 cents higher in the previous session — but well off the intraday high — the January Nymex contract was down 6.0 cents to $2.443/MMBtu at around 8:44 a.m. ET. February was off 6.5 cents to $2.351.

Both the American and European weather models trended warmer overnight and continued to advertise “exceptionally warm” temperatures through Dec. 28, according to NatGasWeather.

Models also showed colder conditions moving into the southern Lower 48 for the Dec. 29-Jan. 2 period, the firm said. This would come as “the northern U.S. cools a few degrees for a modest bump in national...