CE100™ Index Slips 3.31% As Fast, Roblox Loses Ground

The CE100 slipped 3.31% last week, with players such as Fastly and Roblox losing more than a quarter of their market value. In this week’s update, PYMNTS assesses the forces behind the changes in the index and what’s to come.

Investor concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions in Europe and fears surrounding federal interest rate hikes in the United States are creating turbulent market conditions, to say the least.

PYMNTES’ CE100^MT The index, which tracks the performance of 100 publicly traded companies that are driving the digital transformation of the global economy, has seen its value drop 3.31% over the past week despite a brief rise of 2.90% Tuesday.

The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, fell 1.72%, followed by the Dow (-1.41%) and the S&P 500 (-1.05%).

While all three major stock indexes tumbled last week as investors ditched risky assets and turned to bonds in response to rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the drop in the CE100 index has reflected changing consumer behavior as mask mandates and other existing COVID-era restrictions were dropped in several states across the United States

Figure 1: Performance of stock market indices during the week of February 14

The best and worst performers of the week

PYMNTS evaluated the stock prices of all CE100 companies between February 14 and February 18, 2022, to identify the best and worst performers of the week. Here is what we found:

• XPO logistics: The American freight forwarding company provides services in 18 countries and is a leading supply chain provider for blue chip companies in all major industries. The company has remained one of the best performing CE100 players over the past two weeks, with its stock value climbing 7.7% in the past week alone.
• Cisco: The provider of network, cloud and cybersecurity solutions comes second with a growth rate of 7.6%. The company has seen its stock value soar more than 25% since the start of the year, with increased infrastructure spending among legacy network segments.
• Quickly: The content delivery network has struggled since providing a weak 2022 forecast. Shares in the company are down more than a third, making it the worst performer among the CE100 companies. Analysts expect Fastly to remain in the penalty box until at least May, when the company releases its next earnings report.
• Roblox: The global online gaming platform’s stock saw its value soar last year as shutdowns pushed more children to stay home and play games online. The decline in distribution of the Omicron variant and the subsequent economic reopening have, however, had a considerable impact on its activity. Shares of the company have fallen six months since the start of 2022. Last week, Roblox shares fell 27% as the company missed fourth-quarter earnings, making it one of of the worst performers in the index.

Performance of the 10 pillars of the connected economy

CE100 companies are divided into 10 categories that PYMNTS has identified as the pillars of the connected economy. These pillars represent the activities that people and businesses engage in, as well as the enablers that offer the underlying software and infrastructure to facilitate that engagement.

PYMNTS’ analysis of the sub-index value for each of these pillars shows that Live was one of the best performing pillars last week, although it saw a slight decline last week.

The pillar’s growth was driven by Zillow, which is still benefiting from the boom in the US housing market.

Moving is the only pillar that saw growth, improving by 1.2%. All of the other pillars have seen declines in their index values, albeit to varying degrees.

Two key factors explain the growth of the Move pillar. First, we continue to see an increase in demand for faster and more efficient delivery solutions, which creates new opportunities for players in the logistics industry. Second, workers in today’s connected economy are no longer tethered to their desks and are instead choosing to travel to different destinations and work remotely. This change has been a boon for players like Airbnb.

“It is now clear that we are undergoing the greatest change in travel since the advent of commercial flight,” Airbnb’s management team noted in a statement. letter to its shareholders.

In the fourth quarter, half of stays booked on the Airbnb platform were one week or longer, while nearly 20% of bookings were 28 days or longer. Last week, the company saw its stock soar 10.8%, making it one of the drivers of the Move pillar of the connected economy.

Figure 2: Performance of the 10 pillars of the connected economy during the week of February 14

While the banking pillar’s index value slipped 1% last week, it has outperformed all other pillars so far, rising 44.5% since January 1, 2021.

On the other end of the spectrum is the boutique stalwart, who continued his losing streak. The value of its index fell 5.4% last week and has fallen 47.6% since January 2021.

The main players in the boutique pillar, including Shopify, Pinduoduo and Mercado Libre, have all seen their stocks fall, but for different reasons. Shopify, for its part, exceeded expectations, but forecasts slower growth going forward as pandemic-era benefits diminish as markets reopen. Pinduoduo, meanwhile, is facing regulatory headwinds in China, where delivery platforms are being urged to slash restaurant fees to cut business costs.

The biggest loser last week was the Pay pillar, which saw its index value fall by 6.1%.

The decline is due to the poor performance of players such as PayPal, Sezzle, Square, Affirm and Tencent.

PayPal lost nearly two years of gains last week after the company backtracked on its goal of reaching 750 million active users by 2025 and cut its outlook for new users by five million this year last week. .

Shares of the company are down 47% year-to-date, and they’ve fallen nearly 9% in the past week.

What’s coming?

Last Friday, US officials confirmed that Russia plans to invade Ukraine in the coming days. The likelihood of impending conflict should create even more concern for the US stock market in the weeks ahead.

“Investors are struggling to hold on to risk as the likelihood that the standoff between the West and Russia will ultimately lead to a land dispute,” analyst at online trading firm OANDA Edward Moya said on Friday. . “Wall Street will remain jittery until we see a major de-escalation.”

PYMNTS, we will continue to follow how the CE100^MT and the performance of other major indices. Stay tuned for more.