Natural Gas Futures Retreat Early as Heat Seen Fading by Late May

After rocketing higher in the previous session, natural gas futures pared some of their recent gains early Tuesday as weather models showed upcoming heat over the eastern Lower 48 easing toward the end of the month. The June Nymex contract was down 3.5 cents to $3.074/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

Weather models as of early Tuesday continued to show light national demand for the remainder of the current work week, according to NatGasWeather.

“Demand will increase late this weekend into the middle of next week as strong upper high pressure builds over the eastern U.S. with highs of mid-80s to lower 90s,” the firm said. However, both the American and European models “still favor demand fading to lighter levels May 27-June 1 as only the Southwest, Texas and portions of the...