What's going on?

The US government is trying to block oil-services company Halliburton�s takeover of its rival Baker Hughes � a deal that was initially agreed to way back in November 2014.

What does this mean?

The government reviews mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between big companies in order to determine if the combination would result in too little competition remaining in the affected sector. In this case, the sector is oil-field services (e.g. companies that provide equipment to do the drilling) and the government is claiming that this deal �would eliminate vital competition, skew energy markets and harm American consumers.� Rather than simply blocking the deal, the government must take the matter to court (it�s all part of the American process). Both Baker Hughes and Halliburton said they intend to fight the lawsuit. Interestingly, Wednesday�s news was taken as a positive by investors: shares of both companies were up more than 5% on Wednesday (although it seems that investors feel Halliburton would be in better shape than Baker Hughes if the deal fell through).

Why should I care?

The bigger picture:�Government and business are on opposing teams this week. On Tuesday, the government enacted a law blocking so-called �tax inversion deals.� That scuppered the $160 billion tie-up between Pfizer and Allergan. Now, it�s suing to block this takeover. There are clearly two sides to the argument, but it certainly appears that the US government and big business are butting heads at the moment.

For you personally: Competition is meant to help you. The overriding theory is that competition in an industry helps push down prices for the customer (i.e. they can shop elsewhere if needed). If any one firm controls too much of an industry (like important parts of oil production), it gains pricing power that, in some cases, is unfair. So-called �antitrust laws� exist, in theory, to protect competition and, ultimately, the price that consumers pay for things.