when opening a cd or choosing your term pay attention to the fed s rate opening a long term cd right before a fed rate hike may hurt your future earnings decreasing rates can signal a good time to lock in a long term rate 
each bank determines how much interest it will pay on cds if a bank may need more deposits to fund loans it may be more aggressive in trying to attract deposits a large bank with sufficient deposit reserves may be less interested in growing its cd portfolio and offer lower rates 