CDs
- 0.61% (1-year CD yields)
- 1.72% (5-year CD yields)
Here's a look at the state of CD rates from Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large banks and thrifts conducted Sept. 1, 2010.
Death by a thousand cuts continues for CD rates.
The average five-year CD yield toppled 9 basis points to 1.72 percent. The yield on the average one-year CD fell 2 basis points to 0.61 percent.
Jumbo CDs typically offer larger depositors a bit more yield, but that's not necessarily true these days.
The average yield for a one-year jumbo CD fell 2 basis points to 0.67 percent and the five-year dropped 8 basis points to 1.71 percent.
The average yield for a money market account is up 1 basis point to 0.2 percent.
A recent press release from Market Rates Insight pointed out the correlating dips in the Consumer Sentiment Index of the University of Michigan and deposit rates. The Consumer Sentiment Index measures how consumers feel about the economy and if they feel like spending.
According to Dan Geller, executive vice president at Market Rates Insight, the Consumer Sentiment Index has a strong correlation to the national average rate for deposits.
"A regression analysis of these two variables, over the past 10 years, indicates a strong relationship between the two variables," he says.
That means when the Consumer Sentiment Index goes down, deposit rates go down as well.
"Moreover, since the national deposit rate average is the dependent variable, it means that when the MCSI fluctuates, it causes the national average for deposits to fluctuate as well," Geller says.
Geller says that high unemployment, the low Fed funds rate and slow economic growth means that deposit rates will continue to be sluggish.
For some of the best returns available across the country, check Bankrate's high-yield CDs and high-yield money market account tables.
All deposit products listed with Bankrate are FDIC-insured.
-- Sheyna Steiner