DENVER -- Troubles continue for Qwest Communications. It's stock was headed down Thursday, less than a day after Qwest's credit rating took a major hit. And none of it is good news for shareholders or Qwest employees, 7NEWS reported.

Standard & Poor downgraded Qwest's bond rating to junk status on Wednesday, saying that concerns about the economy, competition and management credibility prompted the move.

S&P cited a number of other factors including shareholder lawsuits and a federal investigation into accounting practices that it said could hurt the company's ability to "re-establish management credibility."

This downgrade means Qwest will likely have to pay a higher interest rate to borrow money and some investment firms will be forced to sell existing Qwest bonds because of the downgrade.

Right now Qwest has $26 billion in outstanding debt. The company is trying to sell off its QwestDex yellow pages division and hopes to pull in as much as $10 billion from the sale next month.

The company says it has enough cash on hand to keep paying off on its debts for another year. But two months ago it had to renegotiate bank deals to avoid default.

The company also says it disagrees with Wednesday's downgrade by Standard & Poor and says the downgrade was not based on any new information.

Qwest holds its annual shareholders' meeting June 4. But instead of meeting in Colorado, where the company is based and where it is the largest private employer, it is holding the meeting in Dublin, Ohio.

That fact has made shareholders furious and complaining that Qwest's management is running away from individual shareholders who want answers as to why the stock is performing so poorly.