Borrowing and its costs, tracked for households and companies alike: mortgages, card balances, arrears and defaults, corporate leverage and refinancing schedules. Pieces show how tighter credit reaches spending within a quarter or two. Useful to lenders, credit analysts and finance teams planning around rate changes.
"High-yield" is marketing, not a product category — but the online accounts wearing the label paid 10 times the big-bank rate through the entire rate cycle, with identical insurance.
A CD trades access for certainty: the rate is fixed for the term, insured to the deposit-insurance limits, and the penalty for early withdrawal is priced before you buy.
The 30-year mortgage rate tracks the 10-year Treasury plus a spread — and since 2022 that spread has stayed unusually wide, which is why Fed cuts barely moved home loans.
Card interest rates reprice off the prime rate plus a margin your credit score sets — which is why they rose a full 5 points with the Fed and fall back at a crawl.
APR describes a loan's yearly cost without compounding; APY describes an account's yearly yield with it — and quoting the flattering one is legal marketing on both sides.