Today was a great day in anticipation of the bailout, up until the point that traders sold the news. There is still a fear of holding anything into the weekend where bad news comes in the form of takeunder mergers on Monday. Today's jobless rate was 6.1% and the non-farm payrolls posted 9 consecutive declines.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,325.70 (-157.15; -1.50%)
NASDAQ 1,947.39 (-29.33; -1.48%)
S&P500 1,099.24 (-15.04; -1.35%)
10YR T-Note 3.644% (-0.002%)
52-Week Lows
Top Analyst Downgrades

The big news of the day was rather complicated. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has decided to step in and merge with Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in an all stock transaction for the entire company. Wachovia closed up nearly 60% at $6.21 on over 250 million shares.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) bit the dirt today. It is the potential loser in the Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal and it paid the big price today. Citigroup fell more than 18% to $18.35 on the news and it traded nearly 300 million shares.

Want to see what Warren Buffett said on bailout and bank mergers?

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) got a a lift this morning on what many would otherwise consider bad news. The REIT has replaced its chief financial officer and suspended its dividend. Shares were up 27% at $9.70 right at the close today an more than 16 million shares.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) fell almost 5% to $4.14 after it announced plans to sell up to $500 million worth of stock to buy back debt from its credit arm to help shore up its bottom line.