Remy Blaire brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading Thursday, April 4.
Full Video Transcript Below:
REMY BLAIRE: I’m Remy Blaire reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks were in the red to close out today's session. The Dow closed down over 500 points, the Nasdaq closed down 1.4 percent, and the S&P closed 1.2 percent lower. This comes after comments from a Fed official suggested that the central bank may not cut interest rates at all this year if inflation remains persistent.
Investors are also looking ahead to the March jobs report out Friday. This will give Wall Street a better grasp on the health of the U.S. labor market.
In other news, after Netflix’s successful crackdown on password sharing, now it’s Disney’s turn. CEO Bob Iger announced the company will begin enforcing its no password sharing policy on its Disney Plus platform beginning in June. While Disney Plus has always warned against using someone else’s account in its terms and service agreement, it has largely ignored users who do so.
Disney hopes the move will deliver the same success it brought fellow streaming giant Netflix. Netflix began cracking down on password sharing last May, and in the two days following the rule change, the company added 100,000 new subscribers.
Speaking with CNBC, Iger said that Netflix’s previous move was a big reason for Disney’s password push, saying, “Netflix is the gold standard in streaming. They’ve done a phenomenal job and a lot of different directions. I actually have very, very high regard for what they’ve accomplished. If we can only accomplish what they’ve accomplished, that would be great.”
Disney Plus lost 1.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023, in large part because the platform increased its pricing. The ad-free version of the service jumped 27 percent, going from $10.99 a month to $13.99 a month. Disney Plus currently has about 111 million subscribers.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Remy Blaire with TheStreet.
