With the Fed poised to cut interest rates next week, the ripple effect will show up in certificates of deposit and high-yield savings accounts, which currently offer rates of more than 5%.
They aren’t likely to fall dramatically following a rate cut but rather ease back closer to 4% and linger above the inflation rate for at least the next year. So these accounts should still be your go-to for your emergency fund or cash set aside for short-term expenses.
That said, the Fed’s anticipated action offers an opportunity to make some money moves that take advantage of the downward tilt in interest rates.
“The projected cutting may pull the rug from under the high-yield savings rates,” Preston D. Cherry, founder and president of Concurrent Financial Planning, told Yahoo Finance. “Now might be the best time we’ve seen in a few years to swap cash in high-yield savings for long-term bonds to lock in a higher yield for income payments for lifestyle and retirement portfolios.”
Since 2022, when the Fed began to raise short-term interest rates, bank savings accounts have been a better place to park your cash than bonds. That’s set to change.
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Read more: What the Fed rate decision means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards
Bonds are back
It’s a good time to shift to bonds for those nearing retirement who are looking to rebalance their retirement savings amid stock market volatility.
The best way to earn a high total return from a bond or bond fund is to buy it when interest rates are high but about to come down, Cherry said.
If you buy bonds toward the end of a period when rates are rising, you can lock in high coupon yields and enjoy the increase in the market value of your bond once rates start to come down.
And if you’re a bond lover, you’re up. After more than a decade of dismal bond yields, the two-fold impact of high rates right now and falling inflation offers an opportunity for investment income. When interest rates move lower, bond prices will rise. (Interest rates and bond prices move in opposite directions.)
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“Adding low-price and higher-yield long-term bonds at current levels could add total return diversification value to your bond and overall investment portfolio, which has not been the case in recent past rate-raising environments,” Cherry said.
This is a narrow opportunity, though, before rates start dipping and bond prices go up.
“If you have adequate liquidity and won’t need to tap the money at a moment’s notice, then locking in bond yields now over a multiyear period can provide a more predictable income stream,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, told Yahoo Finance.
“As the Fed starts cutting interest rates, short-term yields will fall faster than long-term yields in the months ahead, so do this for the income rather than the expectation of capital gains,” he said.
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Fidelity offers over 100,000 bonds, including US Treasury, corporate, and municipal bonds. Most have mid- to high-quality credit ratings, but to me the sheer number of choices is mind-boggling. (Getty Images) (damircudic via Getty Images)
Laddering provides a ‘more predictable income stream‘
One way savers can pivot as rates head down is to set up a bond or CD ladder with staggered maturities, instead of investing all your funds in a single CD or bond with one set term length. This tactic can provide “a more predictable income stream while providing regular access to principal,” McBride said.
I hold my personal savings, for example, in several buckets, including six-month and one-year CDs, a money market account, high-yield savings accounts, and a checking account.
The bulk of my retirement holding is stocks and bonds mainly through broad index funds. How you divide up your savings and investments between stock and bonds, mutual funds and money market funds, or high-yield savings accounts is a balance that only you will know you’re comfortable with, based on your risk tolerance and how soon you need to tap the funds.
Many retirees want a more conservative asset mix as they age so they don’t face that uneasy feeling when the stock market is shaky. That’s why near-retirees and retirees, in particular, who haven’t taken a gander at their asset allocations for a while should consider doing so.
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Read more: CDs vs. bonds: What’s the difference, and which one is right for me?
How to put money in bonds for right now and retirement
Most 401(k) investors are in bond mutual funds for the fixed-income portion of their portfolios, which are highly diversified and usually invested in intermediate (five-year) high-quality government and corporate bonds.
Most of us aren’t researching and investing, for instance, in individual intermediate bonds. If you opt to do-it-yourself and choose individual bonds and hold them until they mature, you’ve got plenty to select from, of course. Fidelity offers over 100,000 bonds, including US Treasury, corporate, and municipal bonds. Most have mid- to high-quality credit ratings, but to me the sheer number of choices is mind-boggling.
So I buy shares in a wide range of individual bonds via a bond mutual fund or ETF to add a bond ballast to my retirement accounts. The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, for example, is a diversified, one-stop shop comprising more than 11,000 “investment grade” bonds — including government, corporate, and international dollar-denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities — all with maturities of more than one year.
Right now, more than 60% of the Vanguard fund’s total assets are in government bonds, and its year-to-date return is 4.94%.
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As Vanguard notes, this fund “may be more appropriate for medium- or long-term goals where you’re looking for a reliable income stream and is appropriate for diversifying the risks of stocks in a portfolio.”
For shorter-term goals, staying ahead of rates falling is smart to lock in alluring rates for money you might need sooner rather than later.
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Cash has ‘zero risk’ of losing nominal value
The majority of financial advisers I spoke to didn’t suggest any knee-jerk actions ahead of the Fed meeting. In other words, don’t close your bank accounts.
“Inflation has certainly moderated, but in our opinion is not likely to be a further decline substantially,” said Peter J. Klein, chief investment officer and founder of ALINE Wealth.
If that’s the case, the Fed will not keep lowering interest rates but will hold them steady moving forward.
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“Looking at the long arc of inflation history, one can see the changes … leading to sticky and persistent inflationary pressures. So, the notion that rates will come down substantially — and stay down — is not our base case,” Klein said.
That means that those savings you have in a federally insured, accessible bank account earning above the rate of inflation remain a good bet. That’s especially the case for those nearing or in near retirement who plan to tap that money for living expenses and don’t want the worry that comes from price fluctuations in stocks and bonds.
“Cash is the only asset that an investor can deploy in a portfolio that has zero risk of losing its nominal value,” Klein added.
Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work” and “Never Too Old To Get Rich.” Follow her on X @kerryhannon.
While most AI in financial services remains advisory, LUMIQ has built the layer that owns the decision — autonomous, auditable AI agents making regulated calls in production at leading banks, insurers, and capital markets firms. Today, LUMIQ serves clients across India, the United States, and Southeast Asia — leading institutions across insurance, banking, and capital markets.
NEW YORK and SINGAPORE, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LUMIQ, an AI-native financial services company, today announced a strategic funding round to scale auto-decisioning for financial institutions across the United States and Southeast Asia. The round was led by Bajaj Finserv, one of India’s largest and most diversified financial services groups, with participation from existing investor Info Edge Ventures.
LUMIQ raises Strategic Funding to become AI decision layer for financial services
Right now, thousands of customers are waiting for a policy to be issued, a loan to be disbursed, a claim to be adjudicated, because somewhere an FSI employee is drowning in decisions, held back by the risk of getting it wrong. Today, when e-commerce delivers the same day, banks and insurers still decide in weeks. We built LiteCone to take that burden: AI decides the routine cases, completely and accountably, so humans spend their judgment on the one case that actually needs it. This round lets us bring that to every financial institution in the markets that matter most. Shoaib Mohammad, Co-founder and CEO, LUMIQ
From AI that assists to AI that decides
For decades, financial institutions have bought technology that made their people faster — faster data, faster scoring, faster copilots. The decision still landed on a human. LUMIQ is changing that. Through its LiteCone platform, the company deploys AI agents that read the file, apply the institution’s own guidelines, and reach the decision end to end — escalating only the cases that genuinely require human judgment. The output is not a recommendation. It is a decision, with full reasoning attached, cross-referenced to policy, and defensible under audit.
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The results in production speak clearly. At a leading life insurer, LUMIQ’s LEO agent decides 75–80% of underwriting cases with zero human touch, reduced policy issuance cost by roughly 25%, and compressed turnaround from days to under eight minutes — running 24×7 with complete auditability. Across its client base spanning insurance, banking, and capital markets in India, the US, and Southeast Asia, LUMIQ now processes millions of decisions annually.
LiteCone turns a real financial-services role into a working AI agent in weeks. Every agent we deploy is consistent, explainable, compliant, and auditable by design — not as an afterthought. This capital lets us go deeper on the platform and broader across roles. And through our cloud and AI lab partnerships, institutions will increasingly find LiteCone already embedded in the platforms they run today. Vaibhav Dobriyal, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, LUMIQ
This round funds four priorities: expanding go-to-market in the US and Southeast Asia; deepening LiteCone’s decisioning capabilities; extending the agent workforce across more financial-services roles; and building a partnership ecosystem with cloud hyperscalers, AI labs, and core banking and insurance platforms so LiteCone is embedded where institutions already run.
LUMIQ’s investors backed the round for the same reason its customers adopt LiteCone: agents already deciding in production, with auditability and control built in.
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As a financial-services group, we know how much rests on getting regulated decisions right, at speed and at scale. LUMIQ has built AI agents that decide in production with auditability and control built in, the capability the industry has been moving toward. We are proud to lead this round and to support the team’s expansion across the US and Southeast Asia. Lakshmi Iyer, Group President – Investments & CEO, Bajaj Alternates
Our conviction is grounded in what LUMIQ has already built. Their AI agents aren’t just built for the future. They are operating in production today, at speed. This combination is rare, and its value will only compound as the company scales globally. Girish Jhunjhunwala, Fund Manager – PE and VC Investments, Bajaj Alternates
Financial services is one of the hardest categories to crack — regulated, risk-averse, and unforgiving of hype. LUMIQ has put agentic AI into live financial-services workflows and earned the trust of large institutions across the US, Southeast Asia and India. That is how a category-defining company in financial-services AI gets built, and we are proud to keep backing the team as they scale globally. Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures
LUMIQ’s goal is to lead one category: auto-decisioning at production scale for financial services. Agents that act, not assist, and never compromise audit, compliance, or predictability.
About LUMIQ LUMIQ is an AI-native financial services company. Through its LiteCone platform and a growing workforce of production AI agents, LUMIQ turns real financial-services roles — insurance underwriter, credit underwriter, claims adjudicator — into agents that are consistent, explainable, compliant, and auditable. The company pairs deep domain expertise across banking, insurance, and capital markets with frontier AI. LUMIQ employs over 350 AI and data specialists, and has offices in New Jersey, Singapore, and Delhi NCR (India).
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Web: www.lumiq.ai
Cision
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/lumiq-raises-strategic-funding-to-become-the-ai-decision-layer-for-financial-services-302805280.html
Consumer confidence has plunged among traditionally optimistic younger adults amid fears for their personal finances and the wider economy, figures show.
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index remained unchanged at an overall score of minus 23 in June.
However, the analyst said this was was “misleading as, beneath the surface, there are new signs that confidence is weakening”.
Source: GfK
Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, said: “The biggest fall this month is among those aged 16 to 29, traditionally one of the most optimistic groups.
“Here confidence has dropped 11 points over the past month to minus two, the lowest level seen for two years, driven by large falls in views on both their own personal finances and the wider economy.
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“More broadly, there are now no demographic groups with a positive confidence score, including higher-income households earning £50,000 or more, who have slipped back into negative territory as of June.
“Confidence remains subdued and vulnerable to further economic or political uncertainty.”
Sourve: GfK
Overall, confidence in personal finances over the coming year remained flat at minus two, four points lower than this time last year.
The measures of both personal finances and the economy over the previous 12 months were both slightly down, by two points and three points respectively, “reflecting the sense that things have been extremely tough over the last year for so many”, GfK said.
The only measure to increase was expectations for the wider economy over the next 12 months, up two points to minus 36 but still eight points below this time last year.
The major purchase index, an indicator of confidence in buying big ticket items, remained at minus 20, four points lower than June last year.
“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” said Donald Trump on social media after he announced the signing of an interim peace deal with Iran on Sunday. Under the agreement – which Iran acknowledged included a 60-day negotiating period for a final deal – the president said that following retrieval of mines, there would be a “toll free opening” of the Strait of Hormuz.
But many of the finer details remain “unclear”, said The Guardian. There are questions over the “exact timing of the reopening of the maritime route, who will oversee safe passage and whether any conditions will be applied”.
Financial markets have welcomed the announcement, but further volatility could yet hit people’s pockets.
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Have oil prices changed?
The price of oil fell to about $83 (£62) per barrel following Sunday’s announcement, its “lowest since the early days of the war”. Then on Tuesday it dipped below $80. In February, before the first missiles struck Iran, each barrel cost around $73. The price peaked at around $120 at the height of the conflict.
Prices are expected to fall in the wake of a prolonged ceasefire, and there are “real grounds for optimism”, said Politico. Damage to oil-specific infrastructure has been “limited”, meaning it could take “as little as six weeks to resume outflows”.
“So that’s the energy crisis sorted, right?” Not so fast.” A combination of damage to wider infrastructure and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz has meant roughly 12 million fewer barrels of oil have been produced each day. And they “won’t magically reappear on the market even if the pact holds”.
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Will this continue?
The “first big test” of the deal will be whether shipping companies will have enough “confidence” to return the use of the strait to pre-war levels, said The New York Times. If successful, this will free the 250 tankers and 330 cargo ships trapped in the Gulf, according to the BBC, and transport oil around the world. Oil and gas producers in the Gulf nations would then need to re-establish “wells, refineries and other infrastructure”.
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Even if all of that were to materialise, European and Asian countries who have historically depended on oil from the region “will face a long wait”. Processing oil takes considerable time. “It is unlikely that the prices of gasoline, diesel and other fuels will return to pre-war levels anytime soon.”
What about inflation?
Despite air fares “surging” and fuel costs “tipping higher”, UK inflation remained at 2.8% in May, said The Independent. This was a “surprise” to economists, who had widely predicted a rise to 3% and “perhaps even beyond” due in part to the war in Iran.
Remaining at this level could imply that the “cost-of-living squeeze will not play out as badly as had been anticipated” earlier this year, even if the “Iran war sent energy costs spiralling”. However, prices are set to rise again later in 2026, leaving savers to make sure their investments are earning an interest rate “well above the rate of inflation”.
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What does this mean for consumers?
Food prices in the UK look to be rising more slowly. Should the Strait of Hormuz open freely, fertiliser, which has “soared in costs” and put pressure on farmers, could fall substantially, said the BBC. Jet fuel has already seen a “small fall in price”, with Northwest Europe jet fuel trading at $1,033 (£780) per tonne, compared with $831 pre-conflict and around $1,840 at its peak.
How will businesses be affected?
Beneath the “encouraging headlines” about inflation control, there is a “hidden crisis for businesses”, said The Telegraph. The Iran war triggered one of the largest energy shocks in history, meaning businesses were “swallowing soaring costs to spare shoppers”.
“Input rises” for producers climbed by “8.7% year on year in May”, larger than the 7.9% in April and the highest in more than three years. On the bright side, this means the economy may avoid a dreaded “wage-price spiral”, but conversely lower margins could lead to increased pressure on the employment market.
