With interest rates, for example, some short-term rates have been trending downward, such as with the Federal Reserve starting to cut the federal funds rate. Meanwhile long-term ones such as 10 ...

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note surged above 4.5% early Friday before pulling back a bit. Long-term bond rates sold off this week, after briefly falling below 3.9% on April 4.

So, I think the public perception is that rates have gone up substantially. But if you look back more than 20 years, you could see we’re right around long-term averages. What is different today ...

Currently, however, the yield curve is inverted, and short-term rates are higher than long-term ones ... which means you have to give back seven to 365 days of interest, depending on the CD ...