Google

"Twitter has likely the greatest array of company-specific catalysts of any company in its sphere this year, including Periscope, core monthly active user (MAU) acceleration from the Google partnership, and new core features like embedded video.... building out the "tail" should allow Twitter to grow well-above average over the next several years. With a global ad load between 1% to 2% and 85% from mobile, we think TWTR has more revenue runway than any other company in the Internet space. Our target is $55."

Well, the leak (which ironically came out on Twitter only, and not Facebook) was right, and the full story is even worse than Selerity reported:TWITTER 1Q LOSS PER SHARE 25C; TWITTER INC 1Q ADJ. EPS 7C , EST. 4C.
That much we knew. Here is where it gets worse:

• TWITTER 1Q REV. $ 435.9M, EST. $456.2M
• TWITTER SEES 2Q REV. $470M TO $485M, EST. $538.1M
• TWTR SEES YR REV $2.170B-$2.270B, SAW $2.3B-$2.35B, EST $2.37B

And now perhaps someone will ask how much of Facebook's 1.4 billion "users" are actually real.

• Nepal earthquake toll crosses 3700 (Reuters)
• Greeks Add Pressure on Tsipras to Compromise as Talks Resume (BBG)
• With No Deal on Greek Bailout Aid in Sight, Some in Europe Suggest ‘Plan B’ (WSJ)
• BOJ Shouldn’t Ease Further; Yen Fell Enough: Business Lobby Head (BBG)
• Clinton Foundation admits making mistakes on taxes (Reuters)
• Here’s the Old Nemesis Starting to Spook Bond Traders Again (BBG)
• Deutsche Bank to Trim Investment Banking (WSJ)
• China’s Stocks Rise to Seven-Year High on SOE Merger Speculation (BBG)

In the immediate aftermath of yesterday's destructive Nepal earthquake, which has led to hundreds of aftershocks and a constantly rising death toll, currently exceeding 2000, the most visually stunning, if quite deadly, phenomenon was a massive avalanche on Mt. Everest and leading to at least 17 casualties, including a Google executive, and 61 injured.

The trio of macro-prudential policy, the onset and evolution of shadow banking, and the nebulous concept of financial stability may have become a toxic cocktail which can be instrumental in moving forward the Federal Reserve’s timeline for lift-off zero bound rates.  The intuition here is stooped in concepts of volatility and how market structure evolution may contribute or detract from asset volatility. Volatility is the square root of time. Financial repression times time equals volatility. Financial repression and/or macro-prudential policy times time equals the inverse of financial stability. Financial stability inverted equals volatility squared.

• Obama’s Drone-Strike Rules to Be Reviewed (WSJ)
• Hostage locations difficult to track - and may be getting harder (Reuters)
• Varoufakis Said to Take Hammering From Riled EU Ministers (BBG)
• EU Frustration Mounts as Greeks Try to Bypass Aid Process (BBG)
• Kleiner Perkins seeks almost $1 million in costs in Pao case (Reuters)
• Google Misses, Caps Costs as Growth Slows (WSJ)... stock surges 
• Oil prices trade near 2015 highs on Yemen worries (Reuters)
• Pentagon Announces New Strategy for Cyberwarfare (NYT)
• Bloomberg Oil at $65 Seen Freeing 500,000 Barrels From Shale Fracklog (BBG)
• ‘Flash Crash’ Trader Navinder Sarao: It Was Wits, Not Bits (WSJ)

Even though no rational person expected that the Greek situation would be resolved at today's talks in Riga, Latvia, apparently the algos were so caught up in spoofing each other to new record highs that futures, after surging once more overnight following the latest Google miss which sent the company and the Nasdaq soaring, actually dipped modestly into the red following headlines that the latest Greek talks have broken down after a "hostile" Troika "hammered" the Greek finmin, who was accused by European finmins of "being a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur."

• Clinton charities will refile tax returns, audit for other errors (Reuters)
• China Warns North Korean Nuclear Threat Is Rising (WSJ), or another country realizes war is the only "exit"
• Shares, euro sag after euro zone PMIs disappoint (Reuters)
• China Manufacturing Gauge Drops to Lowest Level in 12 Months (BBG)
• Deutsche Bank Said to Pay $2.14 Billion in Libor Case (BBG), or roughly a €20,000 per banker "get out of jail" fee
• Brazil’s Petrobras Reports Nearly $17 Billion in Asset and Corruption Charges (WSJ)
• Can This Oil Baron’s Company Withstand Another Quake? (BBG)
• Bad for Q1 GDP: Raytheon sales fall amid weak U.S. defense spending (Reuters)

Today is shaping up to be a rerun of yesterday where another frenzied Asian session that has seen both the Shanghai Composite and the Nikkei close higher yet again (following the weakest Chinese HSBC mfg PMI in one year which in an upside down world means more easing and thus higher stocks) has for now led to lower US equity futures with the driver, at least in the early session, being a statement by the BOJ's Kuroda that there’s a "possibility" the Bank of Japan’s 2% inflation target will be delayed and may occur in April 2016.

The reason one can't help but wonder just how much of FB's "users" are merely robotic autoclicks and/or originate at various clickfarms somewhere in Asia, is that taking the Google Trends chart posted above, and represented as of today, reveals something troubling.

Politics in Ukraine continues to be characterized by the East/West divide that was so clearly visible in maps of Ukrainian elections and the distribution of the Ukrainian and Russian language (see “Mapping the Conflict in Ukraine” for details on this). While the new government wants to be seen as embodying Western values in contrast to the kleptocracies that previously governed the country, both its actions and omissions very often seem at odds with this aspiration, to say the least.

• Because it just gets funnier: UK speed trader arrested over role in 2010 'flash crash' (Reuters)
• ... and funnier: Mystery Trader Armed With Algorithms Rewrites Flash Crash Story (BBG)
• Presidential hopeful Rubio reaches out to gay Republicans (Reuters)
• Varoufakis Sees Differences Narrowing in Creditor Talks (BBG)
• China Debt Mess Brings Out the Yin and Yang in Policy Makers (BBG)
• Hedge Fund That Made 18% on Dollar Strength Now Bets on Drop (BBG)
• Whistleblower Jim Marchese Scores Millions in Payout—Again (WSJ)
• Release of Benghazi Report on Hillary Clinton Likely Pushed to Election Season (BBG)

Saudi Arabia is not trying to crush U.S. shale plays. Its oil-price war is with the investment banks and the stupid money they directed to fund the plays. It is also with the zero-interest rate economic conditions that made this possible. Saudi Arabia intends to keep oil prices low for as long as possible.

California is an interesting place.  Probably something like California never existed before.  A barren state with no substantial natural resources, with cities constructed mostly directly over major fault lines, no water, the highest per capita immigrant population of any US state, and of course, also the state with the highest population per capita of lawyers.  "Land of fruits and nuts."  or "La La Land" according to the LA Times:

• The Fed Still Wants Easy Money (BBG) - you don't say
• ECB Is Studying Curbs on Greek Bank Support (BBG)
• Banks Paid to Borrow as Three-Month Euribor Drops Below Zero (BBG)
• Baoding Tianwei is first state-owned Chinese enterprise to default (Reuters)
• Major Chinese Developer Says It Can’t Pay Dollar Debts (BBG)
• Wall Street Has No Idea How Much Money Venezuela Has (BBG)
• Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Find Different Paths to Profits (WSJ)
• Does the Collapse of a Chinese Developer Signal the Start of More Defaults? (BBG)
• Retail Traders Wield Social Media for Investing Fame (WSJ)