Flat Spending And Spain's Downgrade Weigh Down Markets

Flat consumer spending and a downgrade of Spain's debt weighed down the markets to a sharply lower close with the Dow plummeting 122 points to 10,136. Nasdaq tumbled 20 points to 2257.

On the upside

CKX (Nasdaq: CKXE) received an acquisition offer from American Idol creator Simon Fuller.

Shares of onshore drilling sevices provider Precision Drilling (NYSE: PDS) rose after the government declared a moratorium on offshore drilling.

Towerstream (Nasdaq: TWER) chief executive Jeff Thomson will present at the Morgan Joseph 2010 Best Ideas Conference.

On the downside

The government's new offshore drilling rules will negatively impact drilling support companies Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE: HOS), Dril-Quip (NYSE: DRQ) and Superior Energy Services (NYSE: SPN).

Shares of Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) continued to fall after the bookseller posted a first quarter loss yesterday as revenue dropped.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) announced the elimination of 200 positions at its brokerage unit.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 8 points to 661.