Certificates of Deposits: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Morgan Stanley leads the certificates of deposits benchmark in September 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 32.7%, extending a two-month climb from 3.0% in July 2026. Bread Savings holds second position at 29.9% in September 2026, up from 25.6% in July 2026. The largest cumulative increase belongs to Morgan Stanley (3.0% to 32.7%), while the largest cumulative declines belong to a pair of brand-identity transitions: Capital One fell from 37.9% to 0.0%, and American Express fell from 37.0% to 0.0%, as both brands shifted to full legal-name tracking beginning in August 2026. September itself was a quiet month: no brand recorded significant month-over-month movement, following the larger shifts recorded in August 2026.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Bread Savings, JPMorgan Chase & Co., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo & Co. all recorded gains in each month since July 2026. The benchmark collected 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 211 qualified observations after qualification in September 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

August 2026 sat between these months with 204 qualified observations, a recommendation-shaped answer share of 16.7%, and a valid recommendation shortlist share of 38.7%. Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode) with at least one qualified observation.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Certificates of Deposits

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view.

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in any form. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation context. Top-three rate is the share where the brand appears among the top three recommended options. Rank-one rate is the share where the brand is the single top recommendation. Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions. For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

The July-to-September movement table reflects a tracking change: Capital One and American Express were tracked under shortened names in July 2026 and under their full legal names from August 2026 onward. The August 2026 values for American Express Co. at 2.5% and Capital One Financial Corp. at 4.4% represent the first measured points for the full legal names.

Largest Increase: Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley increased from 3.0% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 32.7% in September 2026, a rise beyond normal variation. Its top-three rate moved from 0.0% to 21.3%, and rank-one rate from 0.0% to 10.4% over the same period. Presence rate grew from 32.0% to 74.9%.

Largest Decline: American Express and Capital One

American Express declined from 37.0% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 0.0% in September 2026, and Capital One declined from 37.9% to 0.0%. These shifts correspond to the brand-identity change; the successor legal-name entities American Express Co. and Capital One Financial Corp. registered 1.4% and 3.8% coverage in September 2026, respectively. Both declines moved beyond normal variation relative to baseline.

Category Leader: Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley holds the top position with 32.7% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, a rise beyond normal variation from its July 2026 baseline of 3.0%. Bread Savings holds the second position at 29.9% in September 2026, up from 25.6% in July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading cluster in September 2026 shows different placement profiles.

Morgan Stanley leads in both top-three and rank-one placement, with its top-three rate exceeding its rank-one rate by 10.9 points. Bread Savings shows a similar gap of 12.8 points between its top-three and rank-one rates. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has the smallest gap at 2.9 points, indicating its recommendations land in first position more often relative to its top-three presence.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

A single buyer-intent class captured the qualified observations in both July 2026 and September 2026.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing and value or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. Changes between two percentage rates are expressed as percentage points. The benchmark records the change; it does not, by itself, establish why the change occurred.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated responses across major AI and search surfaces. This neutral industry benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain full traceability to source data.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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