Emigrant Bank, sponsor of the popular EmigrantDirect American Dream Savings Account ,increased their interest rate to 5.00% APY this morning. Happy July 4th! Three of the nations top Banks are now at 5% or greater on their savings accounts. Emigrant today followed the earlier lead of Citibank and Everbank who both went to the 5% range immediately after Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, last raised rates. At the risk of being wrong, we think this is it for a while. The Fed implied that any rate changes going forward will be based on the health of the economy, not inflation concerns. As the economy is showing some weakness in Real Estate and the consumer is dealing with high energy prices, we feel the Fed will hold off on any more rate increases for a while. If we end up being wrong, we would appreciate someone sending us a new crystal ball.