CD Rate Trends This Week: March 9

Along the certificate of deposit spectrum, two-year CDs stand as a beacon of light to frustrated bank investors — they were the only CD class to rise last week (and not by much).

Hey, any port in a storm, right?

Other than two-year CDs, every other category gave more ground last week, as measured by the BankingMyWay Weekly CD Rate Tracker:

Description       This Week     Last Week

60-Month CD         2.133%        2.139%

48-Month CD         1.828%        1.837%

24-Month CD         1.274%        1.272%

12-Month CD         0.819%        0.832%

Six-Month CD         0.548%        0.55%

Three-Month CD     0.355%        0.358%

The fact that rates keep falling leads to few other conclusions than this one: banks don’t believe an economic recovery is forthcoming, or at least one that’s worth shouting about.

Consequently, with major uncertainty in the equity markets these days, investors still cling to low-yield CDs like a life raft in a tsunami. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s better than having no life raft at all.