41.   Now the GOP can point to a specific cost--gas prices--that consumers are beginning to feel.

42.   One of the few other true bright spots in household spending was on personal computers, which consumers have begun to buy enthusiastically.

43.   Online music retailer CDnow.com and gift-seller Ashford.com also plan to jump-start the season weeks before consumers begin basting their Thanksgiving turkeys.

44.   Only after high prices persisted did consumers begin to change their habits, buying more fuel-efficient cars, he said.

45.   Over the last year, consumers have also begun to benefit from the flexibility that comes with on-line mortgage lending.

46.   Other U.S. consumers have begun patronizing retailers who donate a share of their profits to causes in the developing world.

47.   Some consumers have begun to think of functional food as medicine, abandoning it once the benefit is achieved, several packaged-foods analysts said.

48.   Starting next year, consumers will begin replacing their television sets as part of the transition begins to digital, high-definition television.

49.   Stocks of financial services companies fell on concern that consumer debt is high, and that consumers may begin to cut back.