The COVID Effect on Markets and Impact on the Airlines, GameStop Tumbles, Lululemon Surges, China Ramps Up Its Crackdown on Gaming, and Tom Brady's Crypto Ad Ahead of the NFL Season Kickoff

Carl Quintanilla, Jim Cramer and David Faber led off the show with a look at COVID and the Delta variant's impact on the markets, as the Dow and S&P 500 are in the midst of a three-day losing streak. Airlines including Southwest, United and Delta say they have seen cancellations and softness in booking due to the variant outbreak. The anchors also reacted to Wednesday comments from Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan about COVID's resurgence and impact on the travel, hospitality and leisure industries. Kaplan said that as a result, the Dallas Fed would be revising its Q3 GDP forecast downward to six-percent growth. On the earnings front, GameStop shares down sharply after posting a narrower quarterly loss that still missed street estimates, though revenue did top forecasts as sales grew more than 25-percent. Carl, Jim and David discussed CEO Matt Furlong ending GameStop's conference call without taking questions from analysts. On the flip side, shares of Lululemon surged on upbeat earnings and guidance, helped by strong direct-to-consumer sales. A new development regarding China's crackdown on tech: NetEase, Tencent and other videogame companies have been summoned by authorities in Beijing -- and ordered to follow new rules for the online-gaming industry. Tech investor Cathie Wood says her Ark funds have reduced their positioning in China "dramatically." Also in focus: Macy's shares jump on an upgrade from Cowen, President Biden to announce a vaccine requirement for federal workers, what the CNBC Post-SPAC Index is telling us about SPAC valuations, Morgan Stanley downgrades Cisco, and Tom Brady appears in an ad for crypto exchange FTX set to air during the Bucs-Cowboys telecast which kicks off the NFL season.