The Fed won't hold its next rate-setting meeting until late June, but the decision to move or stand pat on rates may be determined by what happens on Friday, when employment figures for May are released.

As of late last week, the consensus estimate among economists was that 215,000 jobs were added this month. That would be down from a 288,000 increase initially reported for April, but better than tepid gains earlier in the recovery.

Usually, big employment gains help the stock market, because they suggest a healthy economy. But Wall Street may be cheering for a less-than-robust figure this time, analysts said. A number that is much weaker than expected could persuade the Fed to postpone a rate increase.

"The longer the Fed dogs stay penned up, the better it is for the stock market, assuming the economy is growing," said Paul Kasriel, director of economic research at the Northern Trust Company. But Fed inaction is unlikely, Mr. Kasriel said.

"If the number is somewhere around the consensus estimate range of 175,000 to 250,000, I think they will decide to move," he said.

Short-term rates are as low as they have been in 40 years, but many people are worried about what will happen next.

"When the Fed starts to tighten, you don't know where they are going to stop, and that affects price-to-earnings ratios," he said. "And I suspect people think earnings growth has about peaked."

BUY ON THE RUMOR

Biotech investors will be hungry for news this week, the final trading days before the start of the year's biggest convocation of cancer specialists.

On Saturday, more than 25,000 scientists and oncologists from around the world will gather in New Orleans for the start of the 40th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Kris H. Jenner, a doctor who manages the $1.25 billion T. Rowe Price Health Sciences fund, says presentations by OSI Pharmaceuticals, ImClone Systems, Genentech and Onyx Pharmaceuticals may be of particular interest to investors.

All four companies have developed cancer drugs. And there is a growing recognition that some, including Erbitux, ImClone's drug for colon cancer, may have applications for a variety of cancers. The drug, whose rejection by regulators in 2001 prompted an ImClone stock selloff at issue in the Martha Stewart case, has commercial promise, Dr. Jenner said.

"There is a growing recognition that Erbitux will be a blockbuster drug" with sales of $1 billion or more, he said. "I think its utility will go far beyond" the treatment for which it has already been approved, he added.

At the convention, he said, ImClone is expected to present "preliminary information" on broader uses for Erbitux.

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