31.   It would be the first decline in placements in a year.

32.   It would be the first decline since March.

33.   It was the first annual decline after three consecutive years of increases.

34.   It was the first back-to-back decline in more than three years.

35.   It was the first decline in eight years, and for many analysts, confirmed that the economy was in recession.

36.   Last year, T.J. Maxx reported the first decline in operating profits in its history.

37.   Moreover, the Commerce Department said the average price per barrel for crude oil showed the first decline in eight months in February.

38.   Motorola Inc. made too many cellular phones, not enough pagers, and too few semiconductors in the fourth quarter, causing its first profit decline in four years.

39.   Nonetheless, it prevented the industry from suffering its first decline in more than a decade.

40.   Spanish consumer prices fell in June, the first monthly decline in four years, fueling a rally in the bond market amid optimism for more interest rate cuts.