CD Rate Trends This Week: July 13

The certificate of deposit market took another downward dip last week — the benchmark 24-month CD falling 17 basis points in the week alone — as measured by the BankingMyWay Weekly CD Rate Tracker.

At that rate, the two-year CDs would fall below 1% in one month — a scary proposition to bank rate savers who have seen some of the lowest CD rates in history over the past few months.

Sure, there are some decent deals out in the marketplace. New York City-based Melrose Credit Union is offering a 1.76% rate on its one-year CD, and a 2.02% rate on its two-year CD.

Down the ladder, Hudson City Savings Bank is out with a three-month CD that pays 1%. Up that same ladder, Sovereign Bank (Stock Quote: SOV) is offering a five-year CD with a 3.15% interest rate. But by and large, CD rates this summer have been remarkably weak — even with knowledge that the economy is in a precarious state and that bank rate investors knew that CD rates wouldn’t be climbing significantly anytime soon.

But who expected an across-the-board decline like this? This week, the average six-month CD rate is paying 0.475%, according to the BankingMyWay Weekly CD Rate Tracker. But take a look at the historical index from Forecast-chart.com.

• In 2008, the average six-month CD rate was 3.14%
• In 2007, the average six-month CD rate was 5.23%
• In 2006, the average sox-month CD rate was also 5.23%
• Even in 2001, a year where the U.S. economy was sinking into recession, the average six-month CD rate was still 3.64%