The daily business briefing: May 11, 2016

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1. Staples and Office Depot abandon merger plan after judge blocks it
2. Amazon surges after bank says its stock could gain 50 percent in a year
3. U.S. job openings hit second-highest level ever
4. Stocks make biggest gains in two months, but futures dip early Wednesday
5. Uber accepts union deal in New York

published 11 May 2016

1. Staples and Office Depot abandon merger plan after judge blocks it

Staples and Office Depot said Tuesday night that they are calling off their proposed merger after a federal judge blocked the $6.3 billion deal. The companies announced the plan last year, but the Federal Trade Commission sued, arguing that letting the rival office-supply giants team up would reduce competition and harm consumers, especially the large businesses that order in bulk. Staples and Office Depot argued that they had to join forces to compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

Amazon's stock price shot above $700 for the first time on Tuesday after Bernstein analysts increased their 12-month target for the shares to $1,000, up from $770. The median target for 42 analysts surveyed by FactSet is $807.67. Amazon's stock also got a boost from the online retail giant's launch of a video service that will compete with Google-parent Alphabet's YouTube. Amazon's shares gained 3.5 percent Tuesday, leaving them up by 43 percent over the last three months.

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Job openings rose to the second-highest level on record in March, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The number of spots waiting to be filled increased by 149,000 to 5.76 million. The record of 5.79 million open jobs was set in July. Analysts interpreted the data as a sign of the labor market's strength through the first quarter. "Employers may be finding they need to post more openings to get the desired quantity of employees they want," HSBC Securities economist Ryan Wang said. "That's also the reason why layoffs are low right now."

U.S. stocks posted their biggest one-day percentage gains in two months on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging by 222.44 points, or 1.3 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also rose by 1.3 percent. The indexes got a boost from surging oil prices, and from solid gains by some industry leaders, including Amazon, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, and General Electric. U.S. stock futures dipped ahead of trading hours on Wednesday, as Disney shares plunged due to disappointing earnings.

Uber on Tuesday announced an agreement to create an association to give drivers in New York access to limited benefits and protections, and a way to open a dialogue with the company's leadership. The association — the Independent Drivers Guild — will be affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union regional branch. It will be the first such group to receive Uber's endorsement, although unrecognized associations have been established in other cities.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.