New York, Feb 10, 2026, 10:09 EST — Regular session
- March Henry Hub natural gas futures were down about 1% after Monday’s sharp slide on warmer forecasts
- Williams shares rose after the pipeline operator forecast 2026 profit above expectations and lifted its dividend
- Traders are watching LNG export flows, weather shifts and Thursday’s U.S. storage report
U.S. natural gas futures were down about 1% on Tuesday, hovering near $3.10, a day after a steep drop tied to warmer late-winter forecasts.
Gas-linked stocks traded with a split tone. Pipeline operator Williams Companies rose after it lifted its 2026 profit outlook and increased its dividend.
The push and pull matters now because the market is trying to re-price late-winter demand just as U.S. liquefied natural gas exports keep pulling supply off the domestic system. That mix can move Henry Hub quickly, and it feeds straight into cash-flow expectations across producers, pipelines and LNG exporters.
March Henry Hub natural gas futures (the U.S. benchmark) were at $3.099 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 3.9 cents, or 1.24%, according to CME pricing. 1
On Monday, the March contract fell 8.1% to settle at $3.15 per mmBtu after forecasts turned milder through Feb. 23. Heating Degree Days — a measure of how much energy is needed to heat buildings — dropped in updated outlooks; Lower 48 output averaged 106.99 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in February and gas headed into U.S. LNG plants rose to 18.3 bcfd, near recent highs, LSEG data showed. “The strong gas price advance … was obviously reversed,” Ritterbusch and Associates wrote, and a Reuters poll pointed to a 249 billion cubic feet (bcf) storage withdrawal for the week ended Feb. 6. 2
Williams forecast 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.20 to $2.38 per share, above the $2.28 average analyst estimate compiled by LSEG, and raised its 2026 dividend 5% to $2.10 per share. RBC Capital Markets analyst Elvira Scotto said the company is “among the best positioned” to benefit from rising gas and power demand, with growth projects tied to its Transco system and power-related buildout. 3
Williams was up 3.8% at $70.41 in regular trading.
Elsewhere, Kinder Morgan gained about 0.8% and LNG exporter Cheniere Energy added about 0.8%, while gas producer EQT slipped about 0.9%. The United States Natural Gas Fund, an ETF that tracks natural gas futures, was up about 0.9%.
But the market has been living on forecast updates. A turn back to colder weather, freeze-offs that curb production, or an outage at a major LNG plant could tighten balances fast; the counter risk is that output stays firm and warmth lingers into late February.
Next up is Thursday, Feb. 12: the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly storage report, plus the next runs of weather models for mid-to-late February. Investors in gas infrastructure will also be watching whether project backlogs translate into steadier volume growth as prices wobble.
