CE100™ Index Soars More Than 11%; Outperforming Broader Markets

The Connected Economy 100 (CE100) Index caught a break last week, soaring 11.7% and reversing a string of weekly losses that had mounted earlier into the year.

The gain in the overall index came as all subsectors also made positive strides.

The snapback might be expected after a string of weekly losses, and markets in general got a bit of a boost in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike interest rates for the first time since 2018.

Call it a relief rally, perhaps — investors might feel that the rate hike is under our collective belts and now we can look ahead. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the rally is sustainable.

CE100 Performance vs. Broader Indices

The best-performing indices were the Pay and be Paid Index (+18.8%), Shop Index (+17.6%) and Stay Connected Index (+14.4%). The worst performers — again, in positive territory — were the Live Index (+6.7%), Bank Index (+8.45%) and Be Well Index (+8.57%).

Comparison Between Pillars 3/14 – 3/18

Tencent, which surged by 47%, helped push the Pay and Be Paid Index higher.

The company might be forced by Chinese regulators to spin WeChat Pay into its newly created payments subsidiary, which could cause the need for the mobile payments service to obtain a new license.

See also: China Could Require Tencent’s WeChat to Secure New Payment License

However, Chinese firms got a boost from reports this week that Chinese authorities would be more “transparent” and “predictable” about regulations tied to platform and Big Tech firms. The Hang Seng surged 7% on Thursday, after Wednesday’s 9% gain.

Shopify was up 43% on the week. Pinterest said it will be allowing users to complete transactions within the app, something long requested by users. This will all be done through Checkout, a native tool available in beta for some U.S. merchants through Shopify.

Separately, Square rebounded 38% on the week, on the heels of news that it had launched a pair of software products that will help businesses in Ireland increase their sales and build customer loyalty in a few clicks. Square Marketing and Square Loyalty are now available as separate subscriptions for Irish businesses.

Though all pillars were up, this is not to say that every name gained ground. In the past week, Verizon — part of the Enablers group — slipped by about 4% on the week.

Verizon announced Thursday (March 17) it will collaborate with Meta to explore both the uses cases of the metaverse and the infrastructure that will enable it. To better understand how to best deliver those connections, the partnership will study Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network and mobile edge computer (MEC) capabilities together with Meta’s technologies.

Read more: Verizon, Meta Partner to Explore 5G-Enabled Metaverse Opportunities

However, one week does not a total rebound make. If we take data year-to-date, the best performing pillar was Be Well (-3.19%), and the worst was the Shopping Index (-28.07%) — indicating that there is significant ground to cover before the returns of the CE100 are positive.