31.   The sales come amid a slump in oil prices and a growing belief that profit margins at petroleum refining operations have probably peaked for the year.

32.   The seven-year bill reflects the growing belief that the generations-old system of price and marketing supports and quotas is a relic.

33.   There may be a growing belief among outsiders that the day college athletes will receive direct, aboveboard cash payments as part of their scholarships is not far off.

34.   There is a growing belief around Bourque, almost a certainty among his friends and acquaintances, that he has decided to retire.

35.   There is now a growing belief here that Asia will weather the slowdown in the United States with less damage than it once feared.

36.   What seemed unbelievable appeared to be happening at last and there was a growing belief that their days of suffering may be coming to an end.

37.   Whatever the outcome, there is a growing belief in the Capital that the way the parole board operates will be altered by litigation.

38.   With Midre Cummings signed to a minor league deal, there is growing belief in Minnesota that first baseman Marty Cordova could be gone soon.

39.   A growing belief by currency traders that Japan will raise interest rates this summer may have helped spark the biggest speculative attack on the Thai baht in years.

40.   Brokers said stocks rallied on the growing belief by investors that there will be a cut in U.S. interest rates early next year.