The real question is, will this time be different than the prior two sell-offs this year?

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He was forced into two lay-offs around this time last year because of back pains and took a long winter break to work on his fitness.

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Six day sell-offs in IBM have been rare this year (there was a five-day sell-off in early February and a pair of five-day corrections in late May).

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We finished sixth and reached the play-offs which gave us a good foundation for this year to get started again.

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Even so, this year's surge in spin-offs and the rise in the conglomerate discount certainly suggest that new diversifications are likely to be far outweighed by corporate break-ups.

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He said that, by May of this year, all the outstanding tip-offs had been investigated and said the UKBS had "launched an operation to identify and remove people, including students, who had overstayed beyond the term of their visa".

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In this year of plenty, there were no drop-offs.

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But both are accelerating: the banking and energy sectors have been opened up already this year, and no fewer than six big sell-offs are promised by the end of March.

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Acting, in most cases, on tip-offs from members of groups who have managed to survive, the Borstar team has made over 1, 000 rescues this year, up from just below 300 in 1999.

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