Ugly, ugly, ugly

That's what Zacks analyst Dirk van Dijk expects November's job report to look like. The expectation has been for a loss of 350,000 payroll jobs, which would be the worst monthly drop since May 1980. But in recent days there's been talk about an even deeper plunge - maybe 400,000 or more. Whatever the number is, you can add it to the 1.2 million job losses for the first 10 months of the year. The unemployment rate is expected to climb to 6.8 percent from 6.5 percent in October. That's still fairly tame for a recession, but the toll of private sector layoffs keeps mounting. To review:

--AT&T slashes 12,000 jobs or 4% of its workforce.

--Credit Suisse Group cuts 5,300 staff jobs, (11%).

--DuPont cuts 2,500 jobs (4.2%).

--Viacom, which operates MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, cuts 850 jobs (7%).

--NBC Universal laying off 500 workers (3%).

And that's just today, folks. The government's jobs report is due out tomorrow morning at 5:30. Be sure to set your alarm.