The second main risk to equities in the near term is the impact of the Delta variant on the recovering global economy.  While Delta is apparently more transmissible than other mutations of the virus, it has fewer pathways through which to propagate as people either get vaccinated or gain some natural immunity by contracting COVID itself.  Nevertheless, the summer spread around many parts of the U.S. led to a stunning drop in consumer confidence between July and August.  The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index registered one of its largest-ever monthly declines from a reading of 81.2 in July to a preliminary reading of 70.2 for August, which was below even the pandemic low of 71.8 in April 2020.  In the past 50 years, the Index has only recorded a bigger monthly drop on six occasions.  Clearly, American consumers have come to realize that the pandemic is not close to being over and further travel restrictions and lockdowns could be in the cards.  While the travel and leisure sector has seen reduced forecasts over the past few weeks as the Delta variant spreads, the broad stock market has not seen discernible impact from Delta.  Why?  Perhaps investors have seen this movie before and are now confident that our economy and capital markets will power through whatever roadblocks Delta throws up.