1.   The company has been hammered by the downturn in the construction and motor industries.

2.   At the time, the old-line gas companies were being hammered by deregulation.

3.   Both companies were hammered by concern that foreign earnings will suffer.

4.   A collapse would hammer companies like J.P. Morgan and Citicorp that lend in Japan.

5.   A slump in exports -- particularly in semiconductors -- and persistently high interest rates and business costs have slowed economic growth and hammered Korean companies.

6.   Investors continue to hammer companies that expect to fall short of earnings forecasts.

7.   Many investors were concerned that the slowest economic growth in three decades will hammer construction companies like Italian Thai Development Pcl.

8.   Telecommunications companies were hammered after Global Crossing, a giant telecom concern, filed for bankruptcy.

9.   The freezing of utility bills will hammer Spanish companies that had enthusiastically bought privatized assets over the last few years.

10.   Yet the shift also will hammer Thai companies with debts in foreign currencies.