Natural gas prices jumped Thursday after weekly U.S. inventory gains were smaller than expected and weather forecasts turned warmer for the coming weeks. Natural gas for September delivery rose 5.5 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $3.841 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, their highest level in a week. For the month, prices fell 14%. Prices have been in a prolonged slump amid a series of stronger-than-average stockpile increases and mild weather that has kept gas-fired cooling demand to a minimum. Producers added 88 billion cubic feet of gas to storage in the week ended July 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday. It was the second week in a row that the storage gain was less than expected. The U.S. is racing to rebuild stockpiles depleted by extraordinary heating demand during the recent severe winter. Though last week’s inventory […]