21.   Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported prices rose at a slower pace in the second quarter as the economy was expanding at the fastest rate in two years.

22.   Much of that increase has come in the past three years, and awards are now rising at the fastest rate in two decades.

23.   Neither did a separate report from the Conference Board indicating its index of leading indicators rose at the fastest rate in five months.

24.   On Thursday the German government reported that prices in German factories shot up in July at the fastest rate in nearly a decade.

25.   Particularly vulnerable, experts say, are poor, non-English-speaking Latinos and their children, whose numbers are increasing at the fastest rate.

26.   Pfizer plans to introduce three new drugs a year for the next two years, among the fastest rates in the industry.

27.   Partly because of their low penetration rate, however, Internet usage among African-American is also growing at the fastest rate of the four ethnic groups, Forrester estimates.

28.   Portland and Vancouver, Wash., led the pack for the fastest rates of growth.

29.   Real wages are rising at the fastest rate in decades, while corporate profits are beginning to fall.

30.   Retail sales volumes seem to have grown in September at the fastest rate for five years.