CD Rates Grind To Halt As Fed Considers Lower Interest Rates For Banks

NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- RateWatch, a premier banking data and analytics service owned by TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST) reported today that national averages for CD rates were unchanged as the Federal Reserve has continued to keep the short-term federal funds rate at a range of zero to 0.25% since late 2008.

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"The interest rate environment could become even more hostile for savers," said Philip van Doorn, TheStreet's senior bank analyst.  "The Federal Reserve has kept the short-term federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25% since late 2008, and there's little chance of the target rate being increased at least until the U.S. unemployment rate falls below 6.5%," van Doorn said.  The unemployment rate for October was 7.3%, increasing from 7.2% during September.

According to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Oct. 29-30 policy meeting, several members of the committee have been considering lowering the 0.25% interest rate paid by the Fed to banks on reserve deposits parked with the central bank.  According to a Financial Times report, two of the nation's largest banks will consider charging some customers to take their deposits, if the Fed makes this move.

"The banks just don't need the money," van Doorn added. "They could find savings deposits unprofitable, when factoring overhead and deposit insurance premiums, if the Fed cuts the rate being paid to the banks."  The four largest U.S. banks have seen considerable deposit growth over the past five years, while seeing their loan balances decline, underscoring the noncompetitive landscape for bank deposits.

NATIONAL AVERAGE RESULTS - $10K

TOP RATE ISSUERS - $10K
This is a list of issuers with top interest rates. The issuer's Financial Strength Rating isan 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, visitwww.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 96,000 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 96,000 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
TheStreet, Inc. (www.t.st) is the leading independent digital financial media company providing business and financial news, investing ideas and analysis to personal and institutional investors worldwide.  The Company's portfolio of business and personal finance brands includes: TheStreet, RealMoney, RealMoney Pro, Stockpickr, Action Alerts PLUS, Options Profits, MainStreet and RateWatch. To learn more, visit www.thestreet.com.  The Deal, the Company's institutional business, provides intraday coverage of mergers and acquisitions and all other changes in corporate control.  To learn more, visit www.thedeal.com.

Contact:

Emily SchneiderTheStreet, Inc.
212-321-5521
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Joe DeauxTheStreet, Inc.
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SOURCE TheStreet, Inc.