Amid signs of weak underlying fundamentals, and with forecasts advertising more moderate summer temperatures for population centers in the Midwest and East, natural gas futures gave back some of their recent gains in early trading Wednesday.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The August Nymex contract was off 4.5 cents to $2.686/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Even after posting back-to-back positive sessions, the front month remains well shy of its recent highs, having “recaptured less than half” of a 31.0-cent decline spanning eight sessions between late June and last week, EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin observed.

“Although technicals are supportive and daily cooling demand is rising, structural fundamental weakness suggests the nascent rally may prove short-lived,” Rubin said.

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