Motorola

When the Big Brothers fight it out! Did you know that your new Samsung GS4 has 14 new sensors to send your personal info up into the cloud, everything from real time health info to location and travel history.

Google has went on record hitting Apple where it hurts. Those who believe that Apple will be resurgent should look at the bigger picture.

• Microsoft prepares U-turn on Windows 8 (FT), Microsoft admits failure on Windows 8 (MW), After Bumpy Start, Microsoft Rethinks Windows 8 (NYT)
• China reports four more bird flu deaths, toll rises to 31 (Reuters)
• Republicans shift stance on US budget (FT)
• NYC Tallest Condo Corridor Gets New Entrant With Steinway (BBG)
• U.S. Says China's Government, Military Used Cyberespionage (WSJ)
• China rejects Pentagon charges of military espionage (Reuters)
• Bank of China Cuts Off North Korean Bank (WSJ)
• Libya defense minister quits over siege of ministries by gunmen (Reuters)
• London Recruiter Says City Job Vacancies Rose 19% (BBG)
• Colleges Cut Prices by Providing More Financial Aid (WSJ)  or, said otherwise, loans
• Jeweler agrees to plead guilty in KPMG insider-trading case (LA Times)

• Reinhart and Rogoff: Responding to Our Critics (NYT)
• Differences with centre-right delay Italy's Letta (Reuters)
• Italy's Letta moves forward to shape government (Reuters)
• China’s leaders warn on financial risks (FT)
• Norway oil fund makes big move from bonds to stocks (FT) - worked wonders for the Bank of Israel
• Smuggling milk is the new smuggling heroin in HK: Milk Smugglers Top Heroin Courier Arrests in Hong Kong (BBG)
• RenTec's mean reversion models fail on BOJ lunacy: Yen Bets Don't Add Up for a Fund Giant (WSJ)
• From 'Fabulous Fab' to Grad Student (WSJ)
• BOJ in credibility test as divisions emerge over inflation target (Reuters)
• Boston Bombing Suspect Moved from hospital to prison (WSJ)
• Provopoulos Says ECB May Never Need to Use Bond-Buying Program (BBG) which is good because, legally, it doesn't exist

Yet another round of less than impressive macroeconomic data from China and Eurozone failed to deter equity bulls and heading into the North American crossover, stocks in Europe are seen higher, with tech and financials as best performers. The disappointing PMI data from Germany, where the Services component fell below the expansionary 50, underpins the view that the ECB will likely cut the benchmark interest rates next month and may even indicate that it is prepared to provide additional support via LTROs. As a result, the EONIA curve bull flattened and the 2/10s German spread flattened by almost 3bps to levels not seen since June 2012. In turn, Bund future hit YTD peak at 146.77 and the next technical level to note is 146.89, 1st June 2012 high. However it is worth noting that the upside traction is also being supported by large coupon payments and redemptions from France, the second highest net market inflow for 2013.

• China’s Recovery Falters as Manufacturing Growth Cools (BBG)
• Gloomy eurozone output points to rate cut (FT)
• Limit Austerity, EU appartchik Barroso Says (WSJ)
• Regulators Get Banks to Rein In Bonus Pay (WSJ)
• SEC looks to ease rules for launching ETFs (Reuters)
• Easy come, easy go: U.S. Seizes $21 Million From Electric Car Maker Fisker (WSJ)
• Japan nationalists near disputed isles (Reuters)
• OECD in fresh warning on Japan debt (FT)
• S&P says more than one-third chance of Japan downgrade, cites risks to Abenomics (Reuters)

The Biggest Welfare Queens of All ...

• Firms Send Record Cash Back to Investors (WSJ)
• And in totally opposite news, from the same source: Firms Race to Raise Cash (WSJ)
• China warns over fresh currency tensions (FT)
• Hollande faces pressure over jobs pledge (FT)
• Obama efforts renew ‘grand bargain’ hopes (FT)
• Shirakawa BOJ Expansion Gets No Respect as Stocks Cheer Exit (BBG)
• Japan’s Nakao Defends Easing as China’s Chen Expresses Concern (BBG)
• Boeing Had Considered Battery Fire Nearly Impossible, Report Says (WSJ)
• ECB Chief Plays Down Italy Fears (WSJ)
• China moves to make its markets credible (FT)
• Euro Group head says UK at risk of 'sterling crisis' (Telegraph)

• The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed (Esquire)
• G7 fires currency warning shot, Japan sanguine (Reuters)
• North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test (NYT)
• Italian Police Arrest Finmeccanica CEO (WSJ)
• Legacy, political calendar frame Obama's State of the Union address (Reuters)
• China joins U.S., Japan, EU in condemning North Korea nuclear test (Reuters)
• Wall Street Fading as Emerging-Market Banks Gain Share (BBG)
• Berlin Conference 2.0: Drugmakers eye Africa's middle classes as next growth market (Reuters)
• Barclays to Cut 3,700 Jobs After Full-Year Loss (BBG)
• US Treasury comment triggers fall in yen (FT)
• ECB Ready to Offset Banks’ Accelerated LTRO Payback (BBG)
• Fed's Yellen Supports Stimulus to Spur Jobs (WSJ)
• Libor Scrutiny Turns to Middlemen (WSJ)
• Samsung Girds for Life After Apple in Disruption Devotion (BBG)

Because humor is always the best and only cure to pervasive central planning that has made a mockery of traditional investing and capital allocation, and because nobody delivers unlimited sheer, unadulterated humor quite as well as one James J. Cramer when he is "recommending" stocks, here is the full text of Jim Cramer's "The Winners of the New World" speech delivered in February 2000. Because it really never is different this time.

As the video denotes below, here we have big brother traded on an exchange

The algos have gone nuts after hours, but here are the numbers:

• GOOGLE 4Q REV. EX TAC $11.34B, Exp. $12.36
• GOOGLE 4Q AVERAGE COST-PER-CLICK FELL 6% VS YEAR AGO
• GOOGLE 4Q EPS EX ITEMS $10.65, EST. $10.50

In what may be very disturbing news for the AAPL-borg collective and the broader Hotel AAPLfornia, WSJ is reporting that Apple is working on a lower-end iPhone, a move which it dubs "a big shift in strategy as its supremacy in smartphones has slipped." To call this a big shift is a major understatement: no longer will Apple have the premium, ultra-luxury, aspirational product cache, which for a broad selection of its customers was the primary reason to keep buying iteration after iteration of the company's releases and lining up in droves around the block on release day. Especially since anyone seeking a "cheaper" iPhone could just buy a previous generation iteration of a gadget whose new product launch cadence is now jumping to twice a year, soon thereafter three times, and so on. Yet saddest for all those who have watched the progress of this iconic company over the past decade from the sidelines regardless of sentiment, the consumer products "Ferrari" that Steve Jobs built, just announced it is launching its own Yugo.

• Global Currency Tensions Rise (WSJ) - in other words, when everyone eases to infinity, nobody eases
• EU to give Spain, France more time to cut deficit (Reuters) - But not because their economies are not "recovering" fast enough, oh no.
• As we expected, Grupo Bimbo considering a bid for Hostess' snack cakes and bread brands (NY Post)
• Time for bus-control: Eleven children killed in latest Chinese bus crash (Reuters)
• Greece Should Write Off Billions of Overdue Taxes, Report Says (BBG) - not all taxes in perpetuity?
• India clamps down on gang-rape protests, PM appeals for calm (Reuters)
• But Meredith Whitney said... Push for Cheaper Credit Hits Wall (WSJ)
• For Greece, last major austerity package, says eurozone official (Kathimerini)...  "unless there is another one"
• Americans Miss $200 Billion Abandoning Stocks (BBG) ... and two flash crashes... and $15 trillion in artificial central bank props
• Goldman Sachs Takes Long View Over Payouts (FT)
• Cliff Would Strike Low Incomes Hard (WSJ)
• Afghan policewoman kills US police adviser (AP)
• For Sale in Japan: Electronics Assets (WSJ)