Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by YCharts

On today’s show we discuss:
- The jobs report surprise
- The “labor shortage”
- 8.2 million fewer jobs
- Why can’t companies find workers?
- How some companies are bucking the trend
- Stocks are not cheap
- You might even say they’re expensive
- An interview with Bill Bernstein
- Lumber prices are up a lot
- Houses with kid-friendly features are selling fast
- We need to build more houses
- The mortgage boom is fading
- St. Louis Fed on de-fi
- The great online game
Listen here:
Recommendations:
- Follow us on HiHo
- Vanilla Sky
- Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Adventureland
- Training Day
- Mosquito Coast
- Honey Bee Democracy
- Odd Lots with the creator of Uniswap
- Jim Bianco with J.C. talking de-fi
Charts:




Tweets:
Cathie Wood's flagship ARK ETF could just as easily be an index of unprofitable tech companies, according to one analyst. See my Chart of the Day. https://t.co/qrnaOERTqd pic.twitter.com/UIMZMym4bk
— Dave Wilson's Chart & Stock of the Day + (@TheOneDave) May 6, 2021
Using some basic assumptions, current lumber prices imply a cost of lumber alone north of $40k for a 2000 sq ft home; historically that number has typically been between $5k and $15k.
Read more in tonight's Closer: https://t.co/E8PMe3qjiP pic.twitter.com/nxmpbfHkFb— Bespoke (@bespokeinvest) May 5, 2021
Biggest miss relative to expectations in Non Farm Payrolls since at least 1998.
— Bespoke (@bespokeinvest) May 7, 2021
The crypto bubble and some thoughts on @jposhaughnessy’s interview with @Jesse_Livermore https://t.co/WU1gT4qmih
— Tyrone V. Ross Jr. (@TR401) May 8, 2021
$F idled half of its production, auto manufacturing worker decline was more than the total decline in manufacturing employment.
Just one of the massive wave of extremely convoluted numbers in this report. https://t.co/hMwoRrfPaD
— George Pearkes (@pearkes) May 7, 2021
NOT GOOD: Women's employment FELL in April.
Gains/losses in female employment:
April: -8,000
March: +595,000
Feb: +256,000
Jan: -34,000Gains/losses in female labor force participation (working or seeking work):
April: -64,000
March: +492,000
Feb: +137,000
Jan: -380,000— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) May 7, 2021
Honestly, at first glance I have no idea what to make of the jobs report. Not just that it was weak, but the particular way it was weak, is perplexing. So come with me as I try to work through it the only way I know how — with charts!
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) May 7, 2021
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