Judge blocks $38 billion Aetna/Humana merger; McDonald's biggest nightmare is your local supermarket, and more news

Also: Yahoo confesses closing the Verizon deal will take longer, and Western Union cops to enabling money laundering and scams. Read on…

A federal judge blocked Aetna's $38 billion merger with Humana, "mostly" agreeing with the government that the combination would reduce competition for Medicare plans and health insurance sold on exchanges. Another court has yet to rule on the Cigna/Anthem deal, "the riskier transaction because the two companies have more overlap nationally," per the New York Times.

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Yahoo said the acquisition by Verizon won't close until Q2 due to the "work required to meet closing conditions." In what could be its final quarterly report, Yahoo beat estimates on both revenues and earnings.

Western Union "admitted to turning a blind eye as criminals used its service for money laundering and fraud" and has agreed to pay a $586 million fine. The infractions included human trafficking as well as job and contest scams, which agents took kickbacks for allowing. WU is the world's largest money-transfer company; it moved $150 billion last year alone.

Sales at established McDonald's locations declined for the first time in 1-½ years "as the novelty of all-day breakfast failed to overcome competition from supermarkets and other food sellers," Reuters reports. The phase out of the $1 menu is also a factor but it is a "disparity in pricing" against supermarkets — i.e., eating in — which the company sees as the greatest threat. 

The United States formally withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership. President Trump, signing an executive order that kept a campaign promise, called his move a "great thing for the American worker." It's unclear whether the pact, a major Obama initiative also opposed by vanquished Trump rival Hillary Clinton, will endure among the other 11 remaining signatories.

Jose Cuervo could go public in 16 days: The world's largest tequila maker is "pushing forward" with a delayed IPO and could price Feb. 8, Bloomberg reports. Cuervo put the plan on hold after Trump's election roiled Latin American markets. But the president's been good for business — the peso is down 60% since election day, and the distiller does 60% of its business in North America.

Today in Trump: The president … Told business leaders he wanted to decrease regulations by 75% or "maybe more" … Met with union leaders, who gave him a round of applause for withdrawing from TPP … Named FCC commissioner Ajit Pai, a Net Neutrality foe, as the agency's next chairman.

Cover Art: A Happy Meal box sits on top of a customer's vehicle outside a McDonald's in White House, Tennessee. (Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty)