Natural gas futures continued to teeter-totter early Thursday amid little change in bearish near-term supply/demand balances. The June Nymex gas futures contract, marking its debut at the front of the curve, eventually settled 5.0 cents higher day/day at $2.355/MMBtu.

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

Spot gas, which traded Thursday for gas deliveries through Sunday, declined as national demand was expected to soften through the weekend before a series of weather systems hits the Lower 48 beginning Sunday to drive up heating loads. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 16.5 cents to $1.990.

With no major changes in physical balances expected over the next two weeks, futures traders took their cue from the latest...