Market Reaction to a Surprise Jump in Retail Sales, Elon Musk's SpaceX Makes History, and the Railroad Bidding War Ends: The CEOs of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern on their $27B Merger Deal. Plus, Sen. Warren's Message: Ban Fed Officials from S

Squawk on the Street

Carl Quintanilla and Mike Santoli led of the show with market reaction to government retail sales data for August showing a surprise gain of 0.7%, despite the COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak. They also discussed two Wall Street notes on Delta and the consumer: Bank of America says a pickup in consumer spending could be an "early sign that the Delta-lull is passing and a mini-reopening cycle starting," while J.P. Morgan says several indicators "are pointing to an inflection in the Delta variant, setting up for a powerful holiday season (unlike last year)." At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Morgan Brennan recapped the historic "Inspiration4" all-civilian flight to orbit launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX -- and looked at how space-related stocks such as Virgin Galactic are reacting to the mission. Morgan also interviewed Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel and Kansas City Southern CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer after both railroad operators agreed to merge in a $27-billion deal, bringing an end to a long, drawn-out bidding war for KCS between CP and Canadian National Railway. Also in focus: Cathie Wood's Ark funds reportedly sold more shares of Tesla – this time 81,600 valued at about $62-million, Cisco rises on a growth forecast and upgrades (Carl and Mike react to what the company's CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC), why shares of American Express, Chipotle and DoorDash saw gains in early trading, the Fed to re-examine ethics rules surrounding stock trading by Fed officials, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) calls for a ban on Fed officials owning and trading individual stocks.