CD Rates at Largest US Banks

This table shows the CD rates for the largest banks operating in the United States. These banks are Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, and HSBC Bank North America.

CD rates (APY) at the largest US banks (Current Data) for a $10,000 deposit.

Bank	CD Rates - APY in % as of 9/9/09 for $10,000
	6- Mo	1-Yr	18-Mo	2-Yrs	3-Yrs	5-Yrs
Bank of America (BAC)	0.55	0.95	1.00	2.15	2.30	3.01
JP Morgan Chase (JPM) Bought WaMu -Washington Mutual	0.75	1.25	1.50	2.15	2.25	3.00
Citibank (C) aka Citigroup & Citicorp	0.80	1.49	1.98	1.73	2.23	3.44
Wells Fargo Bank (WFC) Bought Wachovia - World Savings	0.30	0.60	1.40 19-mo	2.00 25-mo	NA	NA
HSBC Bank North America - Branch & Telephone Rates	0.45	0.55	0.55 15-mo	0.75	0.75	1.01
HSBC Online Rates	1.25	2.00	2.00 15-mo	1.60
US Treasury Rate	0.20	0.39	NA	0.94	1.51	2.41

To see the table in full size with the current rates, click the

• Best CD Rate Survey of the Top US Banks

Notes:

• Bank of America or BofA (BAC stock quotes and charts) was "Nations Bank" before it bought Bank of America and took the name. BofA also bought Merrill Lynch officially as of January 1, 2009.
  
• JP Morgan Chase (JPM stock quote and charts) bought Washington Mutual, fondly known as "WaMu"
• Citibank (C stock quote and charts) is also known as Citigroup & Citicorp
• Wells Fargo Bank (WFC stock quotes and charts) bought Wachovia Bank- that bought World Savings Bank)
  
• HSBC Bank North America is the American subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, also a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, acquired a 51% shareholding in Marine Midland Bank of New York in 1980 and extended to full ownership in 1987. The banks continued to operate under the Marine Midland name until 1998, when the branch offices were rebranded as HSBC Bank USA.

Current Taxable Equivalent Yield for Municipal Bonds

With US Treasury rates (US Treasury Rates as of Sept 5) so low, investors often look to municipal bonds for higher yield.

Term	Current Yield	28% Taxable Equivalent Yield (note 1)
2-Year	0.83%	1.15%
5-Year	1.86%	2.58%
7-Year	2.42%	3.36%
10-Year	3.20%	4.44%
15-Year	3.89%	5.40%
20-Year	4.21%	5.85%
30-Year	4.62%	6.42%

Investors give up some safety because municipalities can not print money. If they go bankrupt, you can lose everything!

To get our current recommendation (pg 5 of the September issue) for municipal bonds, subscribe to The Retirement Advisor Now!

Note 1: “Taxable equivalent yield” is the “tax-free rate” divided by “one minus your federal tax bracket.” For example, if you are in the 28% tax bracket and can get a AAA rated GO bond paying 3.20% this is equivalent to getting 4.44% in a fully taxable AAA rated bond. [ 3.20% / (1 – 0.28) = 4.44% ]

For more information, read:

• US Treasury Rates for Sept. 5, 2009
  
  
• Municipal Bond Primer – Part 1
  
  
• Municipal Bond Primer – Part 2
  
  
• US Treasury Rates at a Glance

US Treasury Rates

Below is a table of US Treasury rates (coupon and yield) as of September 5, 2009.

U.S. Treasuries Term	COUPON	MATURITY DATE	CURRENT YIELD %
3-Month	0.000	12/03/2009	0.13
6-Month	0.000	03/04/2010	0.22
12-Month	0.000	08/26/2010	0.40
2-Year	1.000	08/31/2011	0 .93
3-Year	1.750	08/15/2012	1.43
5-Year	2.375	08/31/2014	2.35
7-Year	3.000	08/31/2016	3.05
10-Year	3.625	08/15/2019	3.44
30-Year	4.500	08/15/2039	4.27

Data from bloomberg.com

For historical data, current quotes and more, see:

• US Treasury Rates at a Glance