MoneyRates Blog
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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CD Laddering Can Spice Up Your Investing Life
According to Money-Rates’ list of the best CD rates available today, a 6 month CD at 1.5 percent interest is a good deal. At the one year mark, anything near 2 percent is a good deal. Conservative investors who vividly remember CD returns of 3-5 percent are understandably questioning how good of a deal today’s [...]
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Savers Appear to Be Getting a Little Bit Angry
Looking for the best rates on CDs, money market accounts, and savings accounts used to be pretty fun. Now, for many savers, it’s downright frustrating.
Bank rates on deposit accounts, that is, are frustratingly low. And now, with the specter of inflation rising, savers are starting to get a little bit angry.
Inflation Good for Debt
Who are savers [...]
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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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Interest Rates Stay Low, But Australia Also Rises
Mortgage rates are still low, and so are CD rates and savings account rates. In seemingly unrelated but actually quite pertinent news, Australia’s central bank raised interest rates by a quarter point.
This move signals that Australia’s economy is recovering, and it’s time to prevent inflation. Australia’s economy, overall, is looking decent thanks in large part [...]
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The Bright Side of Savings Account Interest Rates
Treasury bond rates fell again last week, continuing a somewhat odd habit they’ve shown in recent months. This isn’t good news for anyone waiting for savings account interest rates to rise, but there is a bright side to the story.
First, about that odd habit. Last week was a bad one for the stock market, as jitters [...]
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Banking or Health Care: Which Is In Greater Need of Reform?
Talk of Federal regulation is swirling around two industries: banking and health care. Both are essential to our modern way of life, and both have their critics and backers. The health care system has never gone through a massive meltdown like banking did a year ago, but many people see it as suffering a slow [...]
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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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What’s the Right Cure for High Bank Fee Rates?
Senator Christopher Dodd is reportedly planning on introducing legislation to curb high bank overdraft charges. These charges have been on the rise lately, as banks look for various ways of shoring up profitability. Certainly, overdraft charges can seem excessive, but is legislating against them really the right solution?
According to research firm Moebs Services, the average [...]
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Strength of FDIC Fund Could Affect Bank Rates and Security
It has been widely reported that the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund has been rapidly declining, raising concerns that it might require special funding soon to support the growing number of banks classified as troubled. In response, the FDIC has publicly clarified its accounting to show that the fund is not actually declining nearly as rapidly [...]
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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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Higher Taxes or Higher Interest Rates: If You Had to Choose
The government has spent a tremendous amount of money–up to $23 trillion, according to one estimate–on bolstering the financial system. The banks still haven’t dealt with the “toxic asset” problem that precipitated much of that government spending going to banks. Investors continue to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, but there are sellers, too.
Popular wisdom is that, [...]
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FDIC Bad News Means What to Savings Investors
News reports that the FDIC has endured a 20 percent drop in its insurance fund may cause concern among savings investors.
Some analysts are predicting that the FDIC will be in the red by the end of the year. What does that mean for savings investors?
Not a Whole Lot, In Terms of Individual Accounts
The first part [...]
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Fate of Adjustable Rate Mortgages Shows a Lesson Learned
One of the interesting details about the weeklymortgage data released by the Mortgage Bankers Associaton is the breakdown of the data into different types of mortgage activity. For example, mortgage application activity was up overall this week, but it was led by refinance activity. This suggests that most people taking advantage of low interest rates are [...]
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CBO Deficit Figures Sky High, Bernanke Re-Hired by Obama
The Congressional Budget Office now projects that the U.S. deficit will nearly double over the next ten years. Meanwhile, President Obama re-hired Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for another term.
What do these related news items mean to savings investors looking to secure the best CD rates and the best savings account rates?
Assumptions
The CBO report on the [...]
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Mortgage and CD Rates: Opposites That Don’t Attract
If you’re looking for the best mortgage rates, you’re happy when interest rates go down. If you’re looking for the best CD rates, you’re sad when interest rates go down.
Money, Dreams, and Other People
One group dreams of of homeowhership while the other grouup dreams of a comfortable retirement. Often, as in the case of the young couple [...]
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Bank Rates Likely to Get Better
Rates on bank deposits are set to go higher if the recent statements of leading economists and the Federal Reserve Chairman are to be believed. The economy is still mired in recession, but the pace of contraction has decreased. Any hints of economic growth, when combined with the enormous amount of money flooded into the [...]
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Obama and Interest Rates
President Obama reached his 100th day in office this week with huge questions lingering regarding the effectiveness of his policies and strategies. While it may take years or decades to objectively evaluate the Obama Administration’s response to the financial Pearl Harbor he has faced, at least for this milestone week Obama enthusiasts point to the positive. [...]
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