Forex Today: Slow action in markets amid long weekend in the US

Here is what you need to know on Monday, February 19:

Major currency pairs trade near the previous week's closing levels early Monday. The economic calendar will not offer any high-impact data releases and US markets will remain closed in observance of the Presidents' Day holiday. Germany's Bundesbank is scheduled to publish its Monthly Report during the European trading hours.

The US Dollar gathered strength in the early trading hours of the American session on Friday after the data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the Producer Price Index (PPI) increased at a stronger pace than expected in January. Profit-taking and week-end flows, however, made it difficult for the USD to continue to outperform its rivals ahead of the weekend. After closing the fifth consecutive week in positive territory, the USD Index edges lower early Monday but holds comfortably above 104.00. Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose 2.5% and registered its highest weekly close since November near 4.3%.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, announced that it kept the one-year Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) rate steady at 2.50% as expected. This decision failed to trigger a noticeable market reaction. AUD/USD edged higher during the European trading hours and was last seen trading near 0.6550, where it was up 0.2% on the day.

After falling below 1.0750 on Friday, EUR/USD staged a rebound and erased its losses to close the day flat. Early Monday, the pair continues to stretch higher but stays below 1.0800.

GBP/USD ended the previous week marginally lower but didn't have a difficult time holding above 1.2600. The pair inches higher toward 1.2630 in the early European session.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said over the weekend there will likely come a time when interest rates will begin to rise and affect the economy through various channels, according to the Nikkei newspaper. USD/JPY started the new week under modest bearish pressure and retreated slightly below 150.00.

After dropping below $2,000 earlier in the week, Gold staged a rebound and erased a large portion of its weekly losses to close near $2,000. XAU/USD extends its recovery at the beginning of the new week and was last seen trading at around $2,020.