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All eyes are on the latest jobs report

Today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern the Labor Department will release its September jobs data. Wall Street is hoping that it will provide greater clarity — and perhaps some reassurance — about the U.S. economy amid disappointing news.

Analysts expect a rise in new jobs last month, with employers having created 147,000 jobs. Unemployment is expected to remain unchanged at 3.7 percent. And average hourly earnings are expected to have risen by 0.2 percent, after moving up 0.4 percent in August.

If the data meets expectations, it would be a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy week. A key report on U.S. manufacturing showed that activity fell for the second straight month. And an important index of nonmanufacturing activity hit a three-year low, suggesting that malaise was spreading throughout the American economy.

Investors are betting on another rate cut by the Fed. The central bank’s board of governors is scheduled to meet later this month, and economists think signs of an economic slowdown will force them to act. The Fed’s vice chairman, Richard Clarida, suggested yesterday that one might be in the cards.