For certificate of deposit investors this week, it’s a tale of two scenarios – neither of which has actually fully played out yet.

The glass-half-full crowd sees a suddenly buoyant stock market and a revitalized housing sector as proof that the economy is on the mend. That would likely trigger a boost in CDs as interest rates would once again rise as the economy gets back on a decent growth path.

The glass-half-empty brigade – a group that has unfortunately included many U.S. banks and credit unions this year – are demanding that market bulls and economists with rose-colored glasses show them that the economy is actually on the mend. After months of green shoots and false alarms, who can blame them?

That’s the climate for CD rates this week, and it’s really not a healthy one. Banks, like stock market traders, crave stability and clarity – two items in seriously short supply these days. Mixed messages are greeted with all the enthusiasm of a homeowner greeting a door-to-door salesman.

That’s why mixed messages lead to mixed results in the CD market, which is exactly what the BankingMyWay National CD Rate Tracker reveals this week. At the low end, rates were in decline. Rates on three-month and six-month CDs fell from 0.56% and 0.84%, to 0.55% and 0.836%, respectively. One-year CD rates were just as sluggish, falling from 1.17% to 1.15% for the week.

But rates took a different path on the high-end. Four-year CDs rose from 2.03% to 2.06%, and five-year CDs rose from 2.21% to 2.24%.

Many interest-rate watchers point to the 8% gain in the U.S. stock market during the past two weeks and an 11% jump in U.S. new home sales for the month of June as evidence that the economy is regaining its footing. But anxiety over what a federal health care reform would look like, and a continued decline in bank loans (the total amount of loans held by 15 large U.S. banks shrank by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal) gives other rate observers pause.

Hence the meandering direction of CD rates this summer.

Until we get more concrete proof that companies are getting healthier, layoffs are abating and banks are once again amenable to taking some credit risk, don’t expect CD rates to rally.

That’s not much encouragement to CD investors, but it’s what the landscape looks like as we head into the dog days of August.

That said, let’s end on an upbeat note: to beat the heat and lock in the best CD rates possible, visit BankingMyWay.com. Some good deals are out there, but you really have to dig deep to find them.

— For more ways to save, spend, invest and borrow, visit MainStreet.com.