how will this sell-off and the rise of that delta variant affect the fed let's bring in peter boockvar. he's a cnbc contributor. peter, always good to see you. my guess, tell me if i'm right or wrong here, if a virus variant really begins to take hold and disrupt the sort of return to normalcy, that that would forestall any plans the fed might have for tapering asset purchases late this year or early next. have i got that mostly right >> i would say so. i think that the decision would be much easier if we didn't have this variant, particularly going into the fall when schools reopen and we start going back inside again this is definitely clouding it from the perspective of the fed. that's putting aside the effectiveness of qe anyway, but it's tied to economic activity, so it would be a huge factor in the decision >> so if the fed is likely, to use the cliche word, more dovish or delayed in raising rates or tapering off asset purchases, might one thing that the market would be encouraged by that? or for today, at least, is the concern over economic sort of slowdown or backwardation the