Black Friday conspicuously kicks off the holiday shopping season and on this day, freaky deals, mall-wide sales, and enormous discounts are available for just about every conceivable item out there from toys to HD TVs, socks to gadgets to CD rates. At the same time, retail stores are looking to end the year with leaner inventories and are trying to lure people who, for the most part of this year, have kept their wallets shut tight, to snap up the best items that they have to offer.
Above-the-market best cd rates paid on federally insured, certificates of deposit can be good news for business owners and individuals seeking a safe haven in which to park their extra cash. But it can be bad news for you if your bank fails.
After the 3rd quarter of this year, the FDIC listed 552 banks around the country in danger of failing due to CD rates, CNNmoney.com reported on Tuesday. In 2009, 124 banks have gone belly up so far. Check Bankrate’s Safe & Sound Ratings to see how your bank stands.
The Federal Reserve said it will continue to hold interest rates down for an “expanded period” as best CD rates reached new record lows this week.
Last week in this space, we discussed the mindset elected by Federal Reserve Board as they gathered to meet in Washington to discuss the CD rates.
Current national average bank CD rates are down again this week. The declines are fractional, there were no enlarged moves down in rates. This trend will probably continue until the second quarter of 2010.
Average best CD rates at banks were down again this week over last, continuing a slow decent down since late last year. The good news is CD rates will start heading up sometime in 2010 as long as the economy keeps expanding.
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee, the group that decides economic interest CD rates policy, meets today to discuss the economy, inflation, unemployment, toxic balance sheets and maybe even the capability of leprechauns to locate gold.
A few banks busted the year-long slide in best CD rates in October to briefly boost returns on the best 12-month certificates of deposit to 2.25% APY.