"It's something that could definitely happen, particularly if the payroll number on Friday is strong," he said.

As a result, participants are likely to disregard the payroll numbers.

Each of them wore a metal tag with his name and payroll number.

However, the payroll number seems likely to come in much weaker than the consensus gain of 190,000.

Taking a longer view, the payroll numbers tell a dismal story.

That means the payroll numbers next Friday will be critically important.

This tells us not to make too much of one month's data; payroll numbers are, as economists say, noisy.

Prices fell even though the payroll number was less than market expectations of more than 200,000.

But the market's attention will be centered on the payroll number.

The payroll numbers just under 1,000 employees, and nearly $24.5 million of the annual budget comes from public funds.