Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) swooned as much as 19% as investors reacted to Ireland's formal request for financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

So what: After some odd trading over the past week in which Bank of Ireland and fellow Irish bank Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB) were often moving in opposite directions, investors took shares of both banks down significantly today as they considered what the Irish bailout might mean for the country's banks. With the banking system the proximate reason for the bailout, investors seem to be realizing that shareholders may be low on the list of priorities for the folks who are in the driver's seat.

Now what: One of the primary goals for the Irish government now is to get down and dirty with the country's banking system and turn it from a sickly behemoth into a smaller, healthier system. That's undoubtedly a great goal, and fixing the banks would go a long way toward putting the country back on stable footing. However, that doesn't provide much comfort for shareholders because their interests will most likely be an afterthought in the process.

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