Wall Street Prime Rate
The Wall Street Journal prime rate is a trailing economic indicator and by definition is the rate at which banks lend their best and most creditworthy customers. Until the globalization of finance, there were huge discrepancies from bank to bank as to what they would charge their customers to borrow money. To help reduce confusion and to help with economic forecasting, investors and bankers alike turned to their Wall Street Journal subscriptions for information. For as long as the Wall Street Journal has been printed, it has published the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate. The Wall Street Journal defines their prime rate as the "base rate on corporate loans as set by 30 of the Unitesd State's largest banks." When two-thirds of these banks change their rates, the Wall Street Journal will change the rate as published in it's pages.
What make the Wall Street Journal Prime rate so important is that it is the official index by which the banks set interest rates for auto loans, credit cards and other types of consumer debt. Getting a Wall Street Journal Subscription is the only way to view the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate. With your new Wall Street Jouranal Subscription, you can manage your debt and investments by keeping an eye out on the Wall Street Prime rate. If you see the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate change, chances are your credit card payments will change in an amount equal to that off the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate. As of November 2006, the Wall Street Journal Prime rate was set at 8.25%, an increase of 1.25% as compared to the same time last year.
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