180 day and 6 month Certificate of Deposit Rates
With a maturity period of 180 days or 6 months, a 6 month certificate of deposit is classed as a short term fixed return investment as short term investments are considered to be an investment period of 1 year or less. While certificates of deposits investment returns are fixed the investment rates of returns compared to other asset classes such as stocks are generally lower but they are considered low risk.
Banks generally base 6 month rates on forecasts of central bank policies, for example in the United States the Federal Reserve or 'Fed' sets monetary policies on interest rates. However since a 180 cd rate is a short time horizon, general economic conditions and current federal reserve policies and minutes could be what banks anticipate would set as their interest rates or APR for cd rates.