Amid lower cooling demand expectations from the latest round of forecasts, natural gas futures pulled back in early trading Friday. The August Nymex contract was down 1.2 cents to $3.649/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Both the American and European weather models dropped cooling demand from the outlook overnight, according to NatGasWeather.

“Most of the lost demand is across the northern U.S. next week as weather systems over southern Canada push further across the border,” the firm said. Overall, the pattern “remains hot enough to be considered bullish” from next Tuesday through July 15 but is “not quite as impressive in recent data after numerous Bcf in demand were shed for next week.”

Friday could prove to be another volatile session for the natural gas markets...