Bentley, an economist at TD Economics. “This was to be expected following the sharp rise in gas prices and the tsunami in Japan, and thus should not be interpreted as a dramatic swing in consumer sentiment.”

Other signs emerged that the economy could strength-en in the second half of the year — especially the pros-pect of lower prices at grocery stores and gas stations.

Food costs at the wholesale level fell by the most in a year, according to a government re-port on producer prices. Fruit and vegetable prices led the declines. Tomatoes plum-meted 47 percent, the most since last June. Spinach prices dropped 48 percent, and wa-termelons fell 74 percent.

Gas prices at the whole-sale level rose by the small-est amount in eight months. Consumers had been paying an average of nearly $4 for a gallon of gas in early May. On Monday, the national average was $3.70 a gallon, according to AAA.

Higher gas prices have left consumers with less to spend

on discretionary goods. Ana-lysts think the economy will regain momentum in the sec-ond half of this year if gasoline prices fall further.

A majority of leaders for the largest U.S. companies ap-pear to share that optimism, according to a survey. The Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs for the 200 biggest U.S. companies, said

51 percent of chief executives plan to step up hiring in the second half of the year. That’s nearly in line with last quar-ter’s 52 percent — the high-est percentage since the trade group began polling its mem-bers in 2002.

The survey began in mid-May and ended on June 3, the day the government released the May jobs report, which

showed a steep pullback in hiring. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.

ManpowerGroup, one of the nation’s largest staffing com-panies, said employers are likely to hire at a modest pace through the summer. That’s an improvement since the re-cession, but hiring hasn’t re-turned to levels consistent with a healthy economy.

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

CONSUMER SAVINGS AND LOANS Rates as of June 14, 2011

Banks,savings & loans

Money marketsavings

Min.Deposit APY

CDs

Less than 1 to More than 1 year 3 years 3 yearsMin. Min. MinDeposit APY Deposit APY Deposit APY

Home equity

Fixed- Lines of term loans credit $25,000- $25,000- $49,999 $49,999 APR APR

Charter One Bank877-242-7837 $10,000 0.50% $1,000 0.20%

11 mos.$1,000 1.50%

30-35 mos.$1,000 2.25%

60 mos. 6.49% 4.49%

Fifth Third Bank419-259-2370 $50,000 0.10% $5,000 0.40%

11 mos.$5,000 0.75%

24 mos.$5,000 1.25%

60 mos. 4.14% 2.99%

First Federal Bank, Defiance877-367-8178

$10,000 0.05%$500 0.20%

7 mos.$5,000 1.00%

25 mos.$10,000 1.99%

48 mos.6.00% 6.75%

First Federal S&Lof Delta419-822-3131

N/A$500 0.30%

6 mos.$500 0.45%

12 mos.N/A N/A 6.75%

FirstMerit Bank419-843-9680 $100 0.65% $1,000 0.15%

6 mos.$1,000 0.50%

36 mos.$1,000 0.80%

48 mos. 6.79% 4.24%

Genoa Bank800-592-2828 $10,000 0.40% $1,000 0.15%

6 mos.$1,000 0.40%

24 mos.$1,000 2.02%

60 mos. N/A 3.25%

KeyBank800-589-2968 $10,000 0.30% $25,000 0.30%

11 mos.$25,000 0.90%

36 mos.$25,000 1.05%

48 mos. 4.99% 3.99%

Metamora State Bank419-885-1996

$25,000 0.25% $5,000 0.25%182 days

$5,000 1.20%36 mos.

$5,000 1.50%48 mos. 7.01% 7.00%

National Bankof Ohio419-691-6264

$25,000 0.30% $500 0.25%9 mos.

$500 1.21%36 mos.

$500 2.08%60 mos. 6.75% 4.00%

Union Bank,Pemberville419-659-2141

$50,000 0.03% $500 0.10%6-11 mos.

$10,000 0.60%15 mos.

$5,000 1.55%60 mos. 6.25% 5.00%

Credit unions

AP Federal C.U., Toledo419-476-2531

$10,000 0.45% $500 0.25%6 mos.

$500 1.26%36 mos.

$500 2.02%60 mos. 5.00% 3.99%

Champion C.U.,Toledo419-407-4140

$25,000 0.30% $1,000 0.20%6 mos.

$1,000 1.00%3 yrs.

$1,000 1.25%48 mos. 5.50% 3.25%

Co-op Toledo C.U.,419-865-3600 N/A $1,000 0.25%

6 mos.$5,000 0.90%

24 mos. N/A N/A 5.00%

Directions Credit Union, Sylvania Twp., 419-841-9838

$50,000 0.25% $500 0.20%6 mos.

$500 1.45%30 mos.

$500 2.50%60 mos. 5.25% 4.25%

Jeep Country Fed. C.U., Holland419-865-2200

$10,000 0.70% $1,000 0.50%6 mos.

$1,000 1.50%24 mos.

$1,000 2.25%48 mos. 5.00% 4.00%

Maumee Valley C.U., Toledo800-890-7931

$1,000 0.50% $500 0.40%6 mos.

$10,000 0.90% 14 mos.

$500 2.25%48 mos. 4.50% 1.99%

Sun Federal C.U.,Maumee419-893-2170

N/A $500 0.35%6 mos.

$500 0.40%12 mos.

$1,000 2.78%54 mos. 4.99% 5.00%

Toledo Teamsters C.U., 419-243-7373 $5,000 0.25% $1,000 0.10%

6 mos.$1,000 0.50%

24 mos.$1,000 1.08%

48 mos. 5.50% N/A

Source: Financial institutionsNOTE: There may be terms and conditions to obtain the above rates, including having a savings or checking ac-count with the institution. Also, for credit unions, conditions include being a resident of a particular county or an employee at specified businesses.APY is annual percentage yield, and it could change during the term of deposit. APR is annual percentage rate (including interest and fees). Methods of compounding vary. N/A means not available.

much,” Mr. Eppstein said. “Peo-ple want more information.”

The Toledo-area BBB, which covers 18 counties, has 22,000 reports on area companies. Notices about the new review pages were sent this week to 5,000 local BBB-accredited businesses, and 45 companies

have submitted information so far, Mr. Eppstein said.

Accredited businesses, which pay a fee for BBB mem-bership, also will be allowed to upload photos and videos about their companies. How-ever, they are only allowed to provide general information about the business, and can’t make any performance, pric-ing, or advertising claims.

Companies that want to submit information must reg-

ister on the BBB’s Web site and enter their data online.

The information is re-viewed and verified by the agency before it can be post-ed. The general Web site is to-ledo.bbb.org.

Future editions of the busi-ness review pages could in-clude customer rev iews, which would also be verified by the BBB before being post-ed, Mr. Eppstein said.

— Sheena Harrison

BBBContinued from Page 6

tive officer, said yesterday, “The response has been real-ly, really good and hopeful-ly, our [Bauer] ratings will be changing after this quarter. We’ve got quite a few individ-uals that have really stepped up to help us out.”

A leading supporter has been John Szuch, chairman of Fifth Third Bank (North-western Ohio). Mr. Szuch has persuaded his bank and five other institutions to place seven-year notes worth $50,000 in the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union.

The credit union’s cash re-serves were in the $150,000 range, but the new depos-it “provides a pretty good cushion,” Mr. Szuch said. With the credit union’s addi-tional fund-raising, it should be well between the $200,000 and $250,000 range in its cash reserves soon, he added.

In addition, a group of lo-cal current and retired bank-ing executives have formed a group to advise the credit union until it is better posi-tioned, Mr. Szuch added.

The Bauer report rated two local banks — Bank of

Maumee and Monroe Bank & Trust in Monroe — with two stars, unchanged from the prior quarter . Officials of the Bank of Maumee could not be reached for comment.

Elsewhere in northwest Ohio, the First Bank of Ohio in Tiffin raised its rating to a “superior” five stars in the first quarter, from four the previous quarter.

Throughout northwest Ohio a total of 10 locally based banks received five-star ratings. Five other banks in the region received “excel-lent” four-star ratings and three had “good” three-and-a-half star ratings. Southeast Michigan had just one five-star-rated bank, Blissfield State Bank, and a four-star rated bank, County Nation-al, of Hillsdale.

Among northwest Ohio credit unions, Brush Feder-al in Elmore, Jeep Country Federal in Holland, and Va-cationland Federal in San-dusky raised their ratings to five stars in the first quarter. In northwest Ohio, 23 cred-it unions received five-star ratings and 10 received four stars. In Michigan, there were three with five stars.

Contact Jon Chavez at:

jchavez@theblade.com

or 419-724-6128.

RatingsContinued from Page 6

Edison Nation is just one of several so-called open inno-vation companies that seek to encourage creativity and share in the profits when that creativity strikes pay dirt. The Big Idea Group in Bedford, N.H., for example, is known for toys and craft products, among other things; Inno-Labs in Winfield, Kan., has helped develop a flexible grill-ing skewer, the FireWire. Add to this the several innovation-seeking sites run by big cor-

porations — InnovateWith-Kraft.com, CloroxConnects.com, and Procter&Gamble’s Connect + Develop — and you get a lot of places for nonpro tinkerers to turn for help.

Edison Nation, however, has a leg up on its competition because it is run by the same people who produce the real-ity TV show Everyday Edisons, which appears on PBS.

But as they completed the early episodes, Mr. Foreman said, he and his partners real-ized there were a lot more mar-ketable ideas out there than the show could highlight.

“If we looked at 15,000 ideas and chose 10, it didn’t mean

that idea No.11 through 99 weren’t great; it just meant we only had enough bandwidth on the TV show to develop 10,” he said.

When she learned that Edi-son Nation was going to devel-op her idea, Ms. Kaufman said, “I screamed for three days. I lost my voice, I was screaming so much.”

Now that her product is available — 12 Eggies for $10 plus shipping and handling — she’s tickled that on the Edison Nation site, there are forums on “the Betsy Effect.” Appar-ently, she has inspired people who never thought about in-venting anything to try it.

InventorsContinued from Page 6

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sales at retailers such as this Sam’s Club in Rogers, Ark., rose 0.3 percent last month when a sharp 2.9 percent drop in automobile sales is excluded from total sales.

SpendingContinued from Page 6

THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ WEDNESDAY , JUNE 15 , 2011 toledoBlade.com SECTION B , PAGE 7

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