By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural gas futures climbed to their highest close in more than a week, as June weather forecasts suggest an early start to the summer demand season. Prices for the front-month June contract rose 8.2 cents, or 1.8%, to $4.552 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices jumped 4.5% during the past week of trading, finishing Tuesday at their highest point since May 8. Warming weather forecasts have been the recent driver, pushing up prices for two sessions. They predict highs into the 80s in early June that could lead to air conditioners turned on around the clock. That could lead to an unseasonably high demand for electricity and the natural gas that fuels it. “Every little piece of data…is having an outsized impact on the market,” said Richard Soultanian, co-president of NUS Consulting Group in Park Ridge, N.J. “There’s a […]