A mild temperature outlook and lingering concerns over a second-consecutive bearish miss from weekly government inventory data saw natural gas futures trading slightly lower early Friday. The April Nymex contract was off 1.6 cents to $2.652/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

After overnight changes, the latest forecast from Bespoke Weather Services early Friday showed temperatures leaning slightly warmer than normal overall for the next two weeks.

“There are indications of a weak cooler trough swinging in the eastern U.S. toward days 14-15, though we do not expect this to be a significant player in the pattern, and any cooling is expected to be short-lived, with the bias of the pattern staying to the warmer side as we end March and move into the month of April,” Bespoke...