Natural-gas futures dropped Thursday after federal data showed U.S. storage levels fell less than expected last week. Storage levels shrank by 160 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The drain was 10 bcf less than the 170-bcf consensus average of 16 forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The EIA update is widely considered one of the best measures of supply and demand, and this draw would indicate larger supply or lower demand than expected. That caused prices to drop sharply. The front-month March contract settled down 8.4 cents, or 3%, at $2.713 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It snapped a three-session winning streak that came from colder weather and rising expectations for demand. Natural-gas analysts have overestimated storage withdrawals three weeks in a row, a trend that […]