CE 100 Index Sinks 9.9% on Tariff Worries and Payment Names Plunge

In a week of historic stock trading, where we haven’t seen plunges of this magnitude in five years, it’s easy to count the number of CE 100 Index names that finished in the green. Because they could be counted on one hand.

Healthcare stocks like McKesson and United Healthcare were up 2.3% and 1.8% respectively. Ahold Delhaize gathered 0.8%, followed by Bharti Airtel, which was up by a similar amount.

Everyone else? They slipped or plunged, as the overall CE 100 Index was down 9.9%, keeping pace with the dismal 9.9% dive of the Nasdaq. Tariffs, of course, were to blame, as the impact of the Trump administration’s actions and the trade war taking shape has yet to be calculated, and investors fled common stocks.

Every single pillar in the CE 100 was down, and in fact, the “best” performing segment was the Eat group, which gave up “only” 4%. Banking names lost nearly 16% for the week, as credit risks seem to be deepening; payments-focused names lost 11% as consumer spending is now at risk of being impacted by sticker shock on everything from cars to avocados.

McKesson’s shares rose after the company said that it had completed its previously announced acquisition of a controlling interest in PRISM Vision Holdings, LLC, which provides general ophthalmology and retina management services. McKesson acquired an approximate 80% controlling interest in PRISM Vision Holdings, paying $850 million for the stake.

Within the payments space Affirm sank 22.6%, followed by Sezzle, which gave up 18.4%. The buy now, pay later names shed value as Klarna pulled its IPO at the end of the week. 

In Affirm-specific news, Stride Bank will become a new card issuing partner for the Affirm Card, supporting the growing demand for this debit card that enables consumers to pay in full or convert eligible purchases into pay-over-time loans in the Affirm app. The collaboration enables Stride Bank to continue expanding its payments programs with FinTech companies and helps Affirm extend its reach to more consumers and merchants, the firms announced. The Affirm Card had 1.7 million active cardholders as of Dec. 31.  

In other news fashion retailer Revolve Group will soon enable its customers in the U.S. to use Affirm to pay over time. The retailer will add this payment method in the U.S. in the coming days, both online and in its mobile app, and plans to then expand it to its customers in Canada and the U.K.

PayPal’s shares skidded 10.4%. PayPal and Venmo users can now buy, hold, sell and transfer two more cryptocurrencies — Chainlink (LINK) and Solana (SOL) — directly in their accounts. Users of the digital wallets will start to see LINK and SOL available for purchase over the next few weeks, according to the release.

Elsewhere, Visa shares lost 8.7%. Visa has unveiled three new value-added services designed to make accepting payments easier and more secure. The services are meant for acquirers, payment facilitators, retailers, marketplaces and shops, the company said.

With Authorize.net 2.0, Visa has reimagined its Authorize.net by adding a streamlined user interface, artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Unified Checkout is a new experience that can be launched in a few hours and will orchestrate more than 25 card and alternative payment options,  The ARIC Risk Hub uses adaptive AI to help protect acquirers and their merchants against fraud and financial crime by identifying risky transactions.

In addition,  Visa reportedly offered Apple about $100 million to get the tech giant’s credit card business, which Mastercard holds.

Goldman shares, in the banking segment, lost 13%. Also within the banking names, JPMorgan shares dipped by more than 13%.

As reported last week, India’s Axis, a private sector bank, will offer near real-time 24/7 programmable U.S. dollar clearing for commercial clients. Kinexys Digital Payments will power this development, leveraging its blockchain deposit accounts launched in 2019, per the announcement.

The Enablers segment, which includes the “Mag 7” names like Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple and others, lost 11% as supply chain issues and tariffs — which would hit hardware such as cellphones — came into sharp focus. Apple’s stock, for example, was lower by more than 13%.

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