Despite mixed signals from the weather data, evidence of tight balances in the latest government inventory data helped further bolster natural gas futures in early trading Friday. After advancing 11.1 cents in Thursday’s session, the January Nymex contract was up another 6.7 cents to $2.620/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Overnight, the American weather modeling shifted colder, with the European data trending warmer by a few gas-weighted degree days, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

The firm noted “material differences” between the two models for late this month. The American model is “a little more favorable for some minor chill into the eastern U.S.,” while the European model “rejects this idea and would run warm” into days 16 through 20 of the outlook...