Unemployment came in at a much worse 7.2% headline number, but the loss of non-farm payrolls came in right in line at -524,000 this morning. This and this alone set the tone for the market today and everything else was just a footnote. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,599.18 -143.28 (-1.64%)
S&P 500 890.35 -19.38 (-2.13%)
Nasdaq 1,571.59 -45.42 (-2.81%)

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Top Analyst Downgrades

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was noted somewhat positively by Jim Cramer as one of his DJIA picks on CNBC's MAD MONEY last night. Be advised that he only wants people to buy on pullbacks rather than at the market. Shares pulled back and were down over 1% at the close.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was down only about 1% late in teh day at $73.25. That is surprising since it said results would be significantly lower than its prior quarter.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was another doozy today with shares down more than 12% at $18.28 late in the day. This was after an earnings warning and a zero-visibility implication when it said it would not offer forward guidance.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was the subject of more news than usual. It has about $2 billion in direct exposure to Lyondell Basell Industries in that bankruptcy issue. Then came late-day reports that Bob Rubin was out of the board of directors. And to add even more fuel to the fire, a report from CNBC's David Faber called Citi close to putting Smith Barney out of the company and into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) shares were up almost another 40% at $6.18 on exponential volume late in the day.

Tribune (NYSE: TRB) is recently up $32.08.

CNBC's David Faber says the TRB deal could close very soon. TRB has expected its $34 per share sale to Sam Zell, private equity, debt holders and employees to be closed by year-end. The FCC granted temporary waivers to complete the deal. TRB announced this morning it intends to use cash on hand to reduce total amount of bridge loan to $1.6 billion from $2.1 billion. TRB January option implied volatility of 33 is below a level of 79 from Dec 6th and below its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting the close of the $34 deal is near.

Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Earlier today, CNBC's David Faber announced that he has word that Dick Parsons would be stepping down as Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) CEO effective December 31, 2007. Jeff Bewkes is the likely heir apparent, according to Faber, although it seems Parsons may remain as Chairman.

This change at the top may portend unit sales, roll-ups, spin-offs, and even may lead a change in the ownership of Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC).

Management change is becoming almost the norm today. Citigroup's (NYSE:C) Chuck Prince is out, finally, although having Bob Rubin involved for anything more than an interim basis will be a mistake.

Larry Fink has been named as a potential replacement-head for Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) and some even have noted that he could be offered top billing at Citigroup (NYSE:C).

You could almost view the break-up announcement of IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ:IACI) as a CEO exit because the five individual units already have the heads named and, at least as of now, Barry Diller is going to stay with the IAC/Interactive parent. He said he'd maintain some role in one or two of the spin-offs but not all of them.

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ) expects to reach an agreement to sell itself to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), ending a months-long soap opera that's tried the patience of media nerds like myself, according to CNBC's David Faber. No word on the final terms.

Looks like all of the chest pounding and teeth gnashing by Murdoch's many detractors, including members of the Bancroft family which owns Dow Jones, failed to stop the Australian media mogul just as I expected. The Bancrofts had no other choice. Saying "yes" to Murdoch, was much more lucrative and less potentially litigious than saying "no." There is no doubt that minority shareholders would have sued the Bancrofts for turning down Murdoch's $5 billion offer since the stock would have beeen sent into a tailspin from which it would never recover.

Worries about Murdoch are justified. You can expect the complaints about the tycoon's meddling in the Journal's editorial practices to surface in about six months to a year, perhaps sooner. It will be subtle and difficult for most readers to notice but it will happen. Though many Dow Jones journalists are cringing at the thought of working for Murdoch, they have little choice but to put up with him. Dow Jones pays well in an industry famous for paying poorly. Plus, most media companies aren't doing much hiring because of the current business conditions.

Since Dow Jones appears to have gotten a ridiculously high price for its company, Wall Street will wonder why small media companies such as the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), E.W. Scripps Co. (NYSE: SSP), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) and Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) can't do the same.

They better come up with an answer quickly.

CNBC's deal reporter David Faber who got the scoop on the TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU) buyout has another big one. Apparently, the big-time private equity firm, The Blackstone Group, is planning to file for an IPO within the next couple weeks.

Funny enough, Blackstone's CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, has indicated -- on many indications -- that an IPO was not in the cards. Why deal with all the hassles? Well, I guess Schwarzman could not ignore the huge $10.4 billion IPO of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG).

Faber thinks a Blackstone offering could fetch a valuation at least twice that. It's stunning considering that it was in 1985 that Schwarzman, who owns about 40% of Blackstone, invested $200,000 to start the company. How about that for an ROI?

I think it's a good bet that other premier private equity firms are preparing for IPOs. Yes, things are going to get very interesting – very soon.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.