FTC adopts rule making it easier to cancel unwanted subscriptions

The Federal Trade Commission adopted a final rule Wednesday that will require businesses to make it easy for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships.

The “click-to-cancel” rule will prohibit retailers and other businesses from misleading people about subscriptions and require them to obtain consumers’ consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals and programs linked to free trial offers.

The FTC said businesses must also disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers end recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them. Most of the provisions take effect 180 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register, the agency said.

The Biden administration included the FTC’s proposal as part of its “Time is Money” initiative, a government-wide initiative that was announced in August with the aim of cracking down on consumer-related hassles. The initiative featured new regulations and the promise of more for industries spanning health care and fitness memberships to media subscriptions.

McKinsey & co. to pay at least $500M in settlement over opioid sales

McKinsey & Co. is nearing a deal with US prosecutors to pay at least $500 million to settle federal probes into its past work helping opioid makers boost sales, according to people familiar with the matter.

A settlement, which could be announced in the coming weeks, would resolve criminal and civil investigations by the Justice Department, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential matter. The terms haven’t been finalized and could still change. Representatives for the Justice Department and McKinsey declined to comment.

The settlement would add to penalties that McKinsey has already paid U.S. states for its past work with drug companies that produced highly addictive painkillers. The privately held firm, which said it generated a record $16 billion in revenue last year, agreed in 2021 to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle claims by states that it helped fuel the country’s opioid epidemic by providing sales analysis and marketing advice.

Markets rise as tech stocks stabilize

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday following better-than-expected profit reports from Morgan Stanley, United Airlines and other big companies.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5% to recover much of the slide from its all-time high the day before because of tumbling energy and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337 points, or 0.8%, to set its own record. The Nasdaq composite added 0.3%.

Morgan Stanley rallied 6.4% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Ted Pick said the investment bank enjoyed a “constructive environment” in its businesses.

United Airlines flew 12.4% higher after reporting a milder drop in summer profit than expected and announcing plans to send up to $1.5 billion to its shareholders by buying back its stock. J.B. Hunt Transport Services motored up by 3.1% after the freight company delivered better-than-expected results.

U.S. technology stocks were also holding up better a day after a market-shaking warning from ASML, a Dutch supplier to the chip industry.

ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said Tuesday that artificial intelligence continues to offer strong upside potential, but “other market segments are taking longer to recover.” That helped lead to slides of 3.5% for Broadcom and 4.7% for Nvidia on Tuesday. A day afterward, both rose.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Bloomberg.