♦ Employers cut 240,000 jobs in October, bringing the year's total job losses to nearly 1.2 million. The unemployment rate is now 6.5%, up from from 6.1% in September. [CNNMoney]
♦ Why has the market been falling sharply in recent days? One reason is that hedge funds have been selling billions of their holdings to meet demands for cash from their investors and their lenders. [WSJ]
♦ Citigroup is reportedly planning another round of layoffs. [DB]
♦ Ken Griffin's Citadel says his fund lost about 22 percent last month. [NYP]
♦ The evidence is largely anecdotal, but it appears there's been an increase in suicides related to the financial crisis. [NYT]

♦ Wells Fargo managed to raise $11 billion in a stock sale to help pay for its purchase of Wachovia. [Bloomberg]
♦ Fidelity says it will cut nearly 1,300 jobs this month, with more layoffs to come early next year. [NYP]
♦ The heads of Detroit's main unions are pleading for more government aid for auto manufacturere and have offered up a series of concessions to encourage lawmakers to provide more assistance. [WSJ]
♦ Ford posted a 22% drop in quarterly revenue and announced it would make further job cuts. [WSJ]
♦ A struggling Chrysler is preparing for the worst-case scenario in the event it cannot close a merger with General Motors or get the government it needs to survive the economic storm. [DB]
♦ Retail sales plummeted in October. Neiman Marcus reports that sales dropped nearly 28 percent in October compared with the same month last year. [NYT]