And a prolonged slide in the dollar would hurt bonds by diminishing their appeal to foreign investors.

Some people blamed a May 1986 incident at Fenway Park for Slaught's prolonged slide.

But in a prolonged slide, the long run could well turn out to be five years or more.

Mr. Hunt of the Hongkong Bank Group, maintains that last summer's flurry of economic activity was just a pause in a prolonged slide.

Then came the bombing of World War II, the loss of colonial markets, the closing of the cotton mills and a prolonged slide into economic depression.

Companies have complained that the hotel tax, corporate tax surcharge and incorporation fee have been major nuisances during New York's prolonged economic slide.

Stock prices plummeted today in unrelenting selling, sending the Japanese market to its second steepest drop ever and raising fears of a more prolonged slide.

With players worried about who will stay and who will go, a prolonged slide will not soothe whatever tension exists in the locker room.

Analysts said it would take a prolonged slide in results to damage Mercedes's sales or image.

Comments like those rankled many delegates and generated a debate, inside the hall and out, about whether the schism could somehow help labor end its prolonged slide.