With weather models teasing the prospect of some cooler temperatures reaching the eastern Lower 48 next month, natural gas futures pared their losses in early trading Friday. After falling 12.0 cents in the previous session, the December Nymex contract was up 7.3 cents to $2.665/MMbtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

In terms of projected demand, the latest forecast early Friday was largely unchanged day/day, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

“However, there is a little more of a bullish picture at the very end of the modeling, as there is more of a tendency to focus upper level ridging in the West, leaving room for some weak cooler troughing into the East,” Bespoke said. “…It is unclear if this change holds, or amounts to anything other than brief minor variability down the...