11.   A sharp downturn in the fortunes of telecommunications companies has forced British Telecommunications to sell many of those assets.

12.   A sharp downturn in the Nasdaq stock market in April doused the market for new issues of stock that had been strong in the first quarter.

13.   After President Bush took office, the company continued its political giving despite a sharp downturn in its business.

14.   But if the PSA was saving lives, the early diagnosis of prostate cancer should lead to a sharp downturn in its death rate.

15.   Cliggott, like several other fund managers and market strategists, assumes the onset of a sharp economic downturn and a quick, successful rescue effort by the Fed.

16.   Cripps said he had fielded a rising number of inquiries from wealthy clients looking to hedge against the possibility of a sharp downturn.

17.   Economists credit that sharp downturn with helping to quash inflation and encourage an industrial restructuring that set the stage for a record growth run.

18.   EUROPEAN AGENCIES DIFFER ON OUTLOOK Two large European advertising companies reported first-half results that offered starkly different views of the sharp downturn in ad spending.

19.   Everything else about his career at the UW has been marked by the mercurial uptick and the sharp downturn, nothing gradual or slow-developing.