Ireland Downgraded, Markets Close Lower

Moody's downgraded Ireland's bonds to junk status to send the markets down to a lower close with the Dow falling 58 points to 12,446.  Nasdaq dropped 20 points to 2781.

On the upside

Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) partnered with Virgin Australia to create a private label hotel booking platform for Virgin Australia's Australian websites.

The Bedford Report expects Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW) to benefit from an upswing in silver demand in several emerging economies.

Rising gold prices lifted shares of Eldorado Gold (NYSE: EGO).

On the downside

Quest Software (Nasdaq: QSFT) expects second quarter earnings and revenue to fall short of analyst expectations and cut its outlook for the year.

Powerwave Technologies (Nasdaq: PWAV) blamed the challenging global economy for lowering its second quarter guidance .

Piper Jaffray downgraded Ann (NYSE: ANN) to an Underweight rating.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 5 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 3 points to 829.