How about this to send you off to your weekend, from The Wall Street Journal this morning:

Companies are shedding workers at an accelerating rate, some in response to declining sales and others in anticipation of tougher times ahead.

Job losses are spreading far beyond the housing and finance sectors at the center of the mortgage and credit crises to virtually every corner of the global economy. Well-known names announcing big layoffs Thursday included Viacom Inc., DuPont Co., Avis Budget Group Inc. and AT&T Inc., which plans to cut 12,000 workers, or about 4% of its work force. All told, employers have announced plans to cut at least 33,000 jobs this week alone.

The layoffs came just a day before the monthly employment report is expected to show that employers shed 350,000 jobs in November, after a drop of 240,000 jobs in October. Economists widely expect the unemployment rate, which was 6.5% in October, to hover around 7% by year-end and top 8% by the end of next year. That would make this recession the worst for the job market since the 1981-82 recession, when unemployment hit 10.8%. The government reported Thursday that continuing unemployment claims hit a 26-year high two weeks ago.

More job cuts are likely. Auto makers have proposed shrinking their operations in exchange for federal aid. And financial companies announce new layoffs daily. Credit Suisse Group on Thursday said it would eliminate 5,300 jobs, about 11% of its work force, as it reduces the size of its investment-banking arm. State Street Corp. on Wednesday announced a 6% cut to its work force, representing as many as 1,800 employees.

   For many months, I’ve thought this was going to be much worse–and so the day-to-day swings of the stock market are kind of irrelevant. I’m posting this early before the official job numbers come out today but it won’t be pretty.