Range-Bound Trading Said Likely as Natural Gas Futures Called Slightly Higher Early

Continuing to ride higher as summer nears, natural gas futures approached the technically and psychologically significant $3/MMBtu mark in early trading Tuesday. The June Nymex contract was up 2.2 cents to $2.988 at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

Overnight colder changes to the forecast increased demand expectations for this weekend into next week, according to NatGasWeather. However, the added heating degree days (HDD) also coincided with a loss of cooling degree days on “comfortable” temperatures expected over the South and Southeast, the firm said.

“While HDD are solidly above normal the next 10 days, this late in the heating season it won’t drive nearly as much demand compared to the core winter months,” NatGasWeather said. “…We continue to wait on more impressive,...