It’s pretty much even-steven for certificate of deposit rates this week, with rates across the board not budging much, according to the BankingMyWay weekly CD Rate Tracker.

Hey, it could have been worse. Regulators closed five more banks recently, including Mutual Bank, a fairly major player in the bank CD market. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had to step in and arrange a shotgun marriage between Mutual and United Central Bank – and a good marriage at that. Depositors will see their entire bank deposit monies fully insured, in some cases above the $250,000 FDIC insured ceiling.

For the week, CD rates were stable on the long-end, with rates remaining unchanged at 2.24 for five-year mortgages for the week. Four-year CDs told the same lackluster story – sliding ever so slightly from 2.061% to 2.059% for the week.

Two-year CDs also treaded water – at 1.57%, while one-year CDs stayed at 1.15% for the week. At the lower end, six-month CDs fell from .0.84% to 0.83% and three-month CDs held at 0.55%.

It’s easy to say that August represents the dog days of bank savings, with armies of depositors heading to the beach and to the mountains to cool off. That reduces demand, and with no demand, banks have no inventive to hike rates. Preoccupied by the call of the saltwater taffy, consumers figure that life is short and Labor Day will come soon enough. After that, there’ll be plenty of time to make big financial decisions.

What kind of bank CD market will consumers come back to? Most likely a troubled one, especially as CDs continue to take their cue from the increasingly tepid U.S. Treasury market and an ever-steepening yield curve. True, we’re no longer in danger of another economic “Great Depression” but if the U.S. Government keeps the currency printing presses rolling 24/7, don’t expect much of an economic rebound.

The good news is that bond yield curves seem to jibe with an upward tilt in our nation’s economic fortunes. That means higher CD rates are in our future, probably into 2010 and only after the Federal Reserve steps in to boost interest rates.

That said, why wait? Find the best CD rates possible right now with the BankingMyWay CD rate search engine.

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