I'm Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com, and here is your weekly look at yields on certificates of deposit.
Rate movement was pretty sparse on this holiday-shortened week. The average 2-year CD yield inched higher to 0.52 percent, while on deposits of $100,000 or more the same 2-year CD yields 0.56 percent.
2011 was another bad year for savers, in fact, the worst yet. Returns on savings accounts, money markets, and CDs went from bad to worse.
Consider this -- at the beginning of the year, the average 1-year CD yield was 0.48 percent. Now it is just 0.34 percent. On 5-year CDs, the average fell from 1.57 percent at the beginning of the year to 1.15 percent this week, and on money market deposit accounts, the average dropped from 0.19 percent to 0.13 percent during 2011. To add insult to injury, the rate of inflation in the 12-months ended November 30 th was 3.4 percent.
Even in this low rate environment, it is important to shop around for the best yielding CDs, savings accounts, and money market accounts. To do that, go to Bankrate.com.
I'm Greg McBride