CDs May Be Safest Play in Light of Fed's Recent Announcements

NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- RateWatch, a premier banking data and analytics service owned by TheStreet, Inc. TST reported today that interest rates for savings products remained the same over the previous week based on data collected from over 90,000 financial institution locations.

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CD rates have generally remained unchanged at record-low levels. The Federal Reserve has continued to keep the short-term federal funds rate at a range of zero to 0.25% since late 2008. Some investment officers suggest that CDs with a higher yield than money markets can be a more attractive option for cash-equivalent investments, but others warn that savers should consider whether CDs are a favorable alternative after taxes and the rate of inflation.

"The Fed's loose monetary policy, in part, attempts to encourage investors to move funds into riskier assets and the highly accommodative policy has made CDs a less attractive option in recent years," says Joe Deaux, The Street's economist. "Some investment officers see CDs as a safe play for the near term as recent announcements by the Fed's policymaking wing suggest that some members in the central bank have argued to slow monetary easing in 2013."

NATIONAL AVERAGE RESULTS - $10K

TOP RATE ISSUERS - $10K
This is a list of issuers with top interest rates.  The issuer's Financial Strength Rating is an independent, unbiased evaluation of quarterly regulatory statements.

Institutions are assigned a letter grade of A-E with "A" representing the highest rating based on a review of many aspects of financial safety including capitalization, asset quality, profitability and liquidity.

For more information, visit www.weissratings.com/help/what-our-ratings-mean.aspx.  
Information is believed to be accurate, but not guaranteed.

Data is surveyed weekly with averages calculated each Monday afternoon from RateWatch's unbiased national interest rate survey of over 90,000 financial institution locations across the United States.

About RateWatch
For over 20 years, RateWatch has been the premier provider of competitive interest rate and product information to financial institutions across the United States.  Consistently providing top quality, highly relevant data RateWatch maintains the largest database in the industry with deposit, loan, and fee information monitoring over 90,000 locations. Rate surveys, product comparisons, financial strength reporting, local/regional/national averages, fee reporting, specialty reports and more are available.  To learn more about RateWatch, visit www.rate-watch.com.  RateWatch is a division of TheStreet, Inc.

About TheStreet
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Contact:
Erin Corcoran
TheStreet, Inc.
212-321-5566
erin.corcoran@thestreet.com

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SOURCE TheStreet, Inc.