MoneyRates Blog
Bank Rates Need Rethinking with New Inflation Numbers
As expected, October’s inflation number represents something of a turning point for the inflation environment. Depositors now need to watch closely to see how savings account rates, money market rates, and CD rates respond.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October of 2009 increased by 0.3%. That’s a fairly normal monthly increase for inflation, but it is [...]
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Bank Rate Watchers Should Keep An Eye On This Week’s Inflation Number
The Consumer Price Index for October will be released this Wednesday, and it could mark the beginning of the end for the spate of deflation the U.S. has experienced for much of the past year. For bank rate watchers, wondering when savings account interest rates and CD rates will start to rise, inflation remains a [...]
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Market Recipe Bad for Bank Rates — For Now
The mix of factors now prevailing in the financial markets is almost the perfect recipe to challenge anyone depending on CD rates, savings account rates, or money market rates. In other words, it may be the perfect poison for bank rates. Fortunately, markets eventually tend to find antidotes to their own ills.
First the poison, then [...]
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Raising Bank Rates May Depend on a Pick-Up in Lending Activity
As the economic recovery gets haltingly underway, one of the things depositors should keep an eager eye on is lending volume. It’s not that those depositors are necessarily looking to borrow money themselves, but a pick-up in the lending business may be a key in pushing bank rates higher.
You name it — CD rates, savings [...]
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Bank Reform Debate Continues Even as Recovery Continues
It’s not surprising that former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker has voiced the opinion that banking reform must include the break-up of large institutions, including the separation of commercial and investment banking operations. However, having John S. Reed’s voice join the same chorus is really reason for pause.
Paul Volcker’s regime as Fed Chairman was strikingly different from that of [...]
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Bank Rates At Risk When Stock Market Falters
It was more tricks than treats for the stock market as the month of October wound down, but if bank depositors think the stock market’s woes don’t concern them, they may also be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had four days with losses of a hundred points or more in the [...]
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“Too Big To Fail” Legislative Talk Has Disturbing Overtones
Just about everybody except bank executives with a vested interest agrees that some legislative changes need to be made in the wake of last year’s banking crisis. However, legislating in the wake of a crisis is not without risk — sometimes an overreaction can exacerbate a crisis.
In a subtle way, one has to look no farther [...]
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Bank Pay at Bailed-Out Banks Slashed by Half
Pay for top executives at bailed-out banks and financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, and GMAC, has been cut in half by the Treasury’s compensation regulator, Kenneth Feinberg.
Banks that have already paid back bail-out funds, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, will not be affected by the Treasury’s orders.
Headline Not the Whole Story Here
How to [...]
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A Delicate Balance: Regulation, Stability, and Bank Rates
It’s understandable that last year’s banking crisis should spark a renewed drive for financial regulation. It’s unfortunate that the legislative responses so far seem to be barking up the wrong tree.
As promised (or threatened, depending on how you look at it) Senator Christopher Dodd introduced legislation designed to limit banks’ ability to charge overdraft fees. [...]
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Will Bank Rates Have to Respond to Dollar Weakness?
Surges in the prices of oil and gold recently are symptomatic of a looming problem: the weakness of the U.S. dollar.
Oil and gold are both traded in dollar terms, so when their prices are rising, it may not be entirely a sign of demand for those commodities. Instead, it can be a function of a [...]
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Mixed Message from FDIC Leaves Bank Rates Up in the Air
Last week, the FDIC went out of its way to clarify its accounting policies, to show that the draw down of its deposit insurance fund was not as severe as it seems. This week, they are rather publicly weighing options for giving that fund an emergency shot in the arm.
So which is it — is [...]
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Looking for the Next Clue About the Direction of Bank Rates?
Where are bank rates going next? Whether you’ve been shopping for money market rates, savings account rates, or CD rates, you’ve probably been shaking your head over how low bank rates are in general. The question is, can they go any lower?
The next clue may come this Wednesday, with the release of August’s Consumer Price [...]
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Think Bank Rates Are Low Now? Imagine Negative Interest Rates!
A generation of depositors is currently seeing the lowest bank rates of their lives onCDs, savings, and money market accounts. As those rates approach zero, the natural assumption is that things can’t get much worse. Or can’t it?
It may be a little mind-bending to think about negative interest rates, but the concept does exist. The [...]
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Time to Start “Going Long” on Certificates of Deposit?
The meetings of the Federal Reserve didn’t used to be worthy of watching, but nowadays, the Fed is activist and consistently makes news.
The biggest news to come out of today’s Fed meeting may have flown under the radar a bit in all the hullabaloo about Bernanke seeing yet more “green shoots” in the form of [...]
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New Dominion Bank Variable Rate CDs
New Dominion Bank (FDIC# 57888) in Charlotte, North Carolina is offering variable rate CDs to individual investors via their website. The rate on each CD is tied to the current prime rate as printed in the Wall Street Journal.Current terms and APYs (annual percentage yields) for the variable rate CDs are:
1-year 5.50% APY, $5,000 [...]
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