Natural-gas futures declined for the first time this week, as traders who believe a healthy supply of gas is on the way jumped back into a market. Natural gas for May delivery settled down 3.5 cents, or 0.8% at $4.62 a million British thermal units Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The losses ended a string of four straight winning sessions that had seen gas prices rise to a one-month high of $4.655/MMBtu at the close of trading on Thursday. The pullback in prices fits a back-and-forth trend for the past seven weeks, as traders are caught between a year of high demand and predictions of record production to come. Prices have stayed within a 40-cent range as the country transitions from winter–when natural gas is used to heat homes–to spring–when surplus gas is put into storage. It will take weeks before there is […]