CE 100 Index Soars 4.1% as Vroom, iRobot and WeWork Rally 

The Federal Reserve has signaled it will pause rate hikes. 

In the meantime, the U.S. consumer keeps spending. 

Economic data released over the past few days underpinned gains in the CE 100 Stock Index, which rallied 4.1% last week, bringing its year-to-date positive return to 24.4%.

This might be expected amid the reports that showed an unanticipated May 0.3% boost in retail sales, with increases nearly across the board.  

And for our CE 100 pantheon, shopping-related names led the pack, up 7.6%, as all pillars gained ground. 

As in past weeks, Vroom made a notable showing up 22.3%, followed by Ocado, which leapt 21.8%. Though there were no company-specific headlines this past week, in the case of Vroom, we note that auto dealers saw sales up 1.5% month over month. A more benign interest rate environment may be enough to cause consumers to rethink what they are buying — and possibly spur them to buy more automobiles. The online platforms (Vroom among them), in the meantime, have been making strides to right-size inventory through the past several quarters.    

WeWork shares staged a significant rally, surging 32.4%. As reported Friday via  Securities and Exchange Commission filings, shareholders have approved a reverse split of the company’s stock. The range for the reverse split lies 1-for-10 and 1-for-40. The board will decide the final ratio.

iRobot Surges on Amazon Deal Approval 

iRobot stock powered ahead 27.1%. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority gave a thumbs-up for Amazon’s $1.7 billion purchase of the company, stating that there would not be a “substantial” impact on competition in the U.K. Per an Amazon statement provided to CNBC, the eCommerce giant said that: “We’re pleased with the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s decision and are committed to supporting regulatory bodies in their work. We look forward to similar decisions from other regulators soon.”  

PYMNTS reported earlier in the month that our research into the evolution of the connected economy showed that 21 million more consumers participated in activities involving some type of smart home device than in 2022 — a 31% jump. We found that the share of consumers using smart home devices in their everyday routines increased sharply in 2023. 15% used technology to control home conditions, up from 10%, respectively, in 2022.

In the relatively weakest segment, the Be Well group, which was up 1.7%, saw gains blunted by Aetna/CVS, which lost 5.6% and UnitedHealth, which lost 7.1%.  

UnitedHealth executives warned this past week at a Goldman Sachs conference that demand is on the rise for surgeries, especially among older patients in Medicare programs. The rise in surgeries — where activity had pulled back during the pandemic — means that the insurers themselves are spending more on care, which in turn may impact margins.  

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