'Jobs Friday' puts focus on Fed, stocks

It's "Jobs Friday" — again!

No data point gets as much scrutiny, as much instant analysis or as much financial media coverage than the U.S. government's monthly employment report.

So let the monthly teeth-grinding and nail-biting on Wall Street begin as the Bureau of Labor Statistics lets investors around the world know how many jobs were created in the U.S. last month.

The consensus opinion of Wall Street economists is that 215,000 jobs were created in September, up from a disappointing 142,000 in August, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 6.1%.

These two data points are potentially market-moving numbers, as they could influence the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy decisions and offer insights into the health of the economy and labor market.

If the jobs number comes in too strong, it could "push market participants to scale back their appetite for risk and spur a further decline in U.S. stocks," as it could boost expectations for an earlier-than-expected rate hike next year, says David Song, a currency analyst at DailyFX.

The September jobs report comes at a time of great anxiety, as the stock market has suffered a serious stumble the past two weeks amid an array of new risks that few anticipated a month ago, including the first U.S. Ebola case, the pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong and the U.S. bombing of Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.