Natural gas futures extended their retreat to a third session Wednesday as forecasts show a widespread cold snap starting to dissipate in about two weeks. Natural gas for December delivery fell 7.1 cents, or 1.7%, to $4.176 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Without an even more sustained cold spell to drive heating demand, traders have to pull back from a rally that raised prices more than 20% to start November, analysts said. “Colder than normal [temperatures] this time of the year are not nearly as strong as colder than normal temperatures hitting during the heart of the winter heating season,” Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute, said in a note. The market had soared as the first strong burst of winter-like weather showed up in November forecasts, with a swath of frigid temperatures appearing over the Plains and […]