"And those rumors, he felt, were contributing to the lack of stability in the region," Mr. Cohen said.

The rumours contributed to a fall in sterling against the dollar on the futures market.

The rumours of gas attacks and the divisions among Chechens (the Islamic extremists were blamed for provoking the war), contributed to the abandoning of Grozny by many rebel fighters.

Certainly, it is likely that these rumours contributed to Richard's distrust of his father.

Pervasive unrealized rumours of the imminence of a military coup also contributed to Chang Myon's decision, and the report on the May 12 plan was dismissed as a false alarm.

Chambers later stated that he heard Poyntz had been killed for attempted desertion, and this rumor contributed to his caution when he defected in 1938.

Judy Ganes, an analyst in New York with Shearson Lehman Hutton, said rumors of Soviet purchases of American cotton also might have contributed to the rally.

Unfounded rumors that Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin had resigned also contributed to the selling.

But Delta's recent struggles, and rumors about the impending contraction of its local subsidiary, Comair, have contributed to a deeper sense of economic anxiety.

A persistent rumor that the perpetrator was a woman contributed to her being a major suspect.