Investing.com - Natural gas futures dropped on Monday after updated weather-forecasting models called for December to arrive with mild temperatures, which should dampen demand for heating.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in January were down 2.73% at $4.297 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $4.176, and a high of $4.313.
The January contract settled down 4.99% on Friday to end at $4.417 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.931 per million British thermal units, the low from Nov. 14, and resistance at $4.689, Friday's high.
"Overall, weather patterns haven't changed significantly, as this week is still expected to briefly start mild and showery over the eastern U.S., followed by a fairly cold weather system and reinforcing cold blasts for Thanksgiving Day through the weekend for the Midwest and Northeast," Natgasweather.com reported in its Monday midday update.
"The markets appear to be more concerned about next week, which will bring near or warmer than normal temperatures to the southern [two-thirds] of the U.S. as high pressure dominates the Southeast and milder weather systems track into the West. There will remain very cold air near the Canadian border and if it the jet fails to arrive, it will have opportunity to spill into the northern US with brutally cold temperatures, but it's just not the most likely scenario."
Investors also continued to digest Thursday's weekly U.S. supply report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 14 fell by 17 billion cubic feet, more than expectations for a decline of 12 billion and compared to a gain of 40 billion in the previous week.
The five-year average change for the week is a decrease of 10 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.594 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 201 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 244 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 3.838 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in January were down 0.47% at $76.15 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery were down 0.29% at $2.3744 per gallon.