With continued volatility expected headed into prompt month expiration, and with the latest weather data lowering demand expectations for the first week of August, natural gas futures hovered close to even early Wednesday. After dipping as low as $3.874/MMBtu in the early morning hours, the expiring August contract was trading 0.7 cents higher at $3.978 at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

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The September contract was also up 0.7 cents, trading at $3.949.

The European weather model dropped cooling degree day projections for the first week of August in its latest run, NatGasWeather said early Wednesday. After heat this week, temperatures for next week “won’t be nearly hot enough” to support bullish weather sentiment, according to the firm.

“With the European model shedding more...