With two recessions bookending the decade, 2000 to 2009 saw large fluctuations in CD rates. The average interest rate for six-month CDs dropped to 3.76% in 1992 and 3.28% in 1993.īy 1994, rates rose and hovered between 5% and 5.7% and stayed there through the end of 1999. But that year later saw a recession, which cooled inflation and contributed to declining CD rates. CD Rates in the 1990sĪt the beginning of 1990, CD interest rates were still above 8%.
Interest rates hit 12.08% in June 1984, but the remainder of the ’80s saw interest rates averaging between 6.5% and 10.8%. Average six-month CD rates remained high, at 12.57% in 1982, but dropped to 9.28% in 1983 as inflation remained low and recovery began. And with lower employment rates comes reduced deposits. In late 1982, the unemployment rate reached 11%. The 1980s also began with the worst recession in the United States since the Great Depression. But these historically high interest rates were tempered by high inflation rates-13.30% in 1979 and 12.40% in 1980. At the same time, the average 3-month CD rate hit 18.65%. In March 1980, six-month CD rates averaged 17.74% APY, and the rate rose to 17.98% in August 1981. The 1980s began with the highest CD interest rates in 60 years.
