Friday’s jobs report, or lack thereof, was a surprise to everyone. Many could’ve predicted a bad number, but not by nearly 900,000 jobs. Yes, when you combine April’s whiff and March’s revision, Friday’s Nonfarm Payroll report was the largest miss in history, by 858,000 jobs. The Dow set a fresh record high yesterday, whereas the Nasdaq is down 2.5% on the week and trading 4% from its record. As for the S&P, it’s trading slightly lower on the week, a blend of the 2.We’ve been calling for a choppy start to May as the market digests April’s gains, and Monday’s soft close alluded to many investors broadly taking the same approach. Per our discussion here yesterday, it was no surprise to see stocks move higher through the opening bell; they’ve done just that for each of the last 3 months.The strong start to the month should come as no surprise as February, March, and April each started out with gains of 1.6%, 2.3%, and 1.1%, respectively, after soft finishes on the last day of the prior month.Doves flew yesterday as the Federal Reserve reiterated steadfast support for the economy and that it’s not yet thinking about tapering its unprecedented asset purchases.Between the heart of earnings season, the Fed, and President Biden’s speech tonight, we could easily characterize today as critical.U.S. benchmarks were little changed ahead of the bell, but the S&P set a fresh record high overnight. Today unfolds into tomorrow’s Federal Reserve policy decision with a deluge of earnings and a busy economic calendar.U.S. benchmarks finished last week strongly and are clinging to those gains at the onset of a new one. In a jam-packed week ahead, we look to the Federal Reserve’s policy decision Wednesday and earnings from the 6 largest companies by market cap in the U.S. A magnificent start to the month and quarter certainly calls for some profit taking, but let us not forget that each month-end so far this year has seen a bat with volatility. Furthermore, next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting begs to keep things interesting.