First Midwest Bank raised the rate on their 32 mos. CD to 4.00%. I believe this is the highest in Chicago now and the highest rate in 12 mos. The 30 mos. CD's bottomed about a month ago at 2.00%.

The retail rates are rising in Chicago. I just noticed it from my proprietary due diligence indicators. I keep track of very common consumer items to watch for signs of economic change. Here are some of the facts I have discovered recently that could affect stock prices:

Food stores sales are declining, so the big chains are in price wars. Meat priced at 4.99-7.99 a pound is getting market down to .99 and 1.99 a pound in special 4 day sales to get customers in the store. We have price deflation as consumer cut back and save more.

Banks this past 2 weeks have raising rates on deposits. So many here in Chicago, the list is too big. I will just list the top five payers, some real attractive rates compared to the low payers like PNC. You are going to see deposit outflows this quarter at the low payers like PNC. How do I know, when I opened a new account at several of the banks, I asked to banker were was the money coming from. The said checks were from alot of the big banks like BAC, C, PNC, NCC, etc.

What I have deduced, before all the smart bank analysts, like Meredith Whitney is that it appears TARP banks can't pay the higher rates and thus are experiencing deposit outflows. It could be they are so big and slow like dinasours or the CEO are so inept that they don't see this until well to late, like they performance during the subprime crisis. Whatever, they are behind the curve, and I did check PNC out, they DID NOT raise any of their rates.

Royal Bank of Scotland banks in USA, Citizens Bank, Charter One Bank and several others are negotiating rates on deposits over 100,000. Some advice, they match advertisements from anywhere as long as they are in date, I suggest you take a copy of the 3.3% bonus passbook from Citibank (London) that is on the internet. The passbook rate is only .25% but they will match 3.3% on large deposits.