TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and the FTC’s new “click to cancel” rule.
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00:00I'm Conway Gibbs reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.
00:04Earnings season powered the Dow to a record high on Thursday. Economic data also helped.
00:10Consumers had more cash to spend in September thanks to falling gasoline prices,
00:14which led to stronger than expected retail sales. The week will come to a close Friday with numbers from American Express,
00:21Procter & Gamble, and fresh residential construction figures.
00:25In other news, if you've ever tried to cancel a subscription to anything and got the runaround,
00:30the Federal Trade Commission feels your pain. The FTC has finalized its
00:36quote, click-to-cancel rule to end that frustration.
00:40FTC chair Lena Kahn says quote, too often businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription.
00:48Nobody should be stuck paying for service they no longer want.
00:51Under the new rules, companies will have to make it just as easy to cancel a
00:56subscription as it is to sign up. This includes gym memberships, streaming services, pay TV, and
01:02automatic billing on e-commerce sites.
01:04Companies must provide an online cancel button that does not require you to talk to a live person or
01:10interact with the company in any other way. If you enrolled at a physical location,
01:15the company must provide an easy way to cancel either online or by phone.
01:21Companies will have 180 days to comply with the new rules, which also include the free trial switcheroo.
01:27You know how it goes. The company offers a free trial,
01:30but you have to supply your credit card number first. And once the trial period ends, the company starts billing you
01:36automatically without any notice. Under the FTC's new rules, that can't happen.
01:42According to one research firm, Americans on average have four and a half subscription plans carrying a yearly price tag of
01:49$924. That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittins with the Street.