Natural gas prices shook off early losses Thursday and climbed higher after weekly supply data was less bearish than expected. Natural gas futures rose 0.7% to settle at $1.8060 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading in negative territory before the data release. The market has been retreating from a one-month high after an early spring warm-up drained the last remaining hopes for gas-fired winter heating demand. The U.S. Energy Department said natural gas stockpiles rose 15 billion cubic feet last week, as booming production at nine-year highs and weak demand after a tepid U.S. winter sapped gas-fired heating demand. The inventory increase came three weeks earlier than normal, and compares with a usual 24-bcf decline for this time of year. Still, analysts expected an even bigger increase of 22 bcf, so the data was less bearish than expected. Inventories now stand 51.4% […]