Word: sharp
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...marketing errors such as Mondavi's are relatively easy to recover from in an atmosphere of rising incomes and free consumer spending. But even if the 1998 profit lag was an aberration, as many economists think, U.S. and global production capacity still exceeds demand, and price competition is relentlessly sharp. Keeping profits up still requires astute strategy--and not a little ruthlessness...
...sharp further rise in interest rates would be "a dagger in the heart" of the U.S. stock market, says Vincent Farrell, chief investment officer of Spears, Benzak, Salomon & Farrell, an investment firm. But he believes the dagger is well sheathed: "Interest rates have probably about run their course." Abby Joseph Cohen, who chairs the investment policy committee at Goldman Sachs, is more emphatic. Says she: "I think yields on long-term bonds cannot move much higher and stay there on a sustained basis...
...riding the fence. They recognize that the recent Internet-stock drop could be just another fake-out--"an intrusion of rational thinking," says one--like the dips in January and last autumn. In both cases, patience and faith were rewarded when those stocks roared back from sharp declines. But the pros aren't exactly backing up the truck to get their fill. It's more of a tiptoe laced with caveats...
...worried parents, there's violence in Everquest. But the game's best post-Columbine feature is its marginalization of slaughter. In sharp contrast to Ultima, in which veteran players often murder "newbies" just for the thrill of it, Everquest, says producer Brad McQuaid, lets users choose whether or not to be "player killers"; only those who do can kill--or be killed by--others. Thus far only 15% have opted for killer status...
...ladling out authentic-sounding information on such arcana as weapons ("Yes, I'll have that Harpy, please, and a straight serrated Spyderco with a four-inch blade, and that drop-point skinner at the back") and Swiss bank accounts ("Article 47 of the Bundesgesetz uber Banken und Sparkassen"), plus sharp thumbnail portraits of the major players and malefactors and incessant plot surprises...