Natural Gas Market Note | 06.04.2026
Futures pricing rallied on warmer forecasts and a light storage build.
Natural gas futures moved sharply higher on Thursday, with the strongest gains concentrated in the front of the curve. July and the remaining summer contracts each gained about 12 cents on the day, with the prompt-month finishing near $3.34 per MMBtu and the summer strip near $3.35. Winter also moved higher, though by a more modest 7 cents, while gains further out the curve were generally limited to a few cents.
The rally was supported by a warmer shift in the forecast, with outlooks now showing more significant heat across key consuming regions than yesterday’s model runs. The change increases the likelihood of stronger cooling demand and elevated power burn as the market moves deeper into June. If current forecasts come to fruition, the near-term weather setup should yield the highest power generation demand of the summer so far.
Today’s storage report also helped support pricing. The EIA announced a 95-Bcf injection for the final full week of May, which was well shy of the year-ago build of 119 Bcf and also below the five-year average of 101 Bcf. Inventories have now erased the mid-April surplus to last year and sit modestly below year-ago levels for the first time since February.
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