evening markets

Natural gas futures, fresh off a massive 12-cent climb, retreated a bit Friday as Hurricane Laura’s destruction slowly came into focus. Aided by a cooler weather outlook over the coming weeks, the October Nymex gas futures contract fell 5.3 cents to $2.657. November lost 2.7 cents to hit $2.916.

Spot gas prices also were lower outside of West Texas, where prices for the three-day period through Monday climbed around 40.0 cents on average. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 11.0 cents to $2.075.

With extensive power outages remaining in the wake of Laura, along with lower temperatures brought on by the storm’s winds and rain, a pullback at the front of the Nymex futures curve was to be expected. Perhaps most important to the gas market, the former Category 4 storm also...