5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg Markets] [Forward Guidance] [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]][Twitter Share] [SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend]] Donald Trump is not making any new Mexican friends as the countries' trade spat escalates. U.S. GDP data due, and earnings season continues. Trade spat A week is a long time in politics, with President Donald Trump now seemingly on the [cusp of a trade war] with one of his country's biggest trading partners only seven days after his inauguration. The cancellation of a proposed meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and the POTUS via Trump's personal [Twitter account] — chased up with threats to impose a [20 percent tariff] on Mexican imports —has put further pressure on [the peso]. Earnings Alphabet Inc.'s revenue [beat analysts' estimates], but its profits per share missed expectations due to the company paying a much larger tax rate than anticipated. Alphabet, along with Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., which also reported results yesterday, continue to show that [cloud services] remain the biggest growth area in tech. In Europe, UBS Group AG kicked off a run of bank earnings releases this morning saying all its money-management units saw [net redemptions] in the last quarter. Shares in the bank were 3.2 percent lower by 5:22 a.m. ET. U.S. GDP The economy is expected to have ended 2016 with a [2.2 percent annualized growth rate], according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey. While that rate would be fairly typical of the country's Obama-era expansion, it is far below the level promised by President Trump, who is looking to introduce protectionist policies and prune regulations to [boost the economy]. Fourth-quarter gross domestic product data will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Markets slip Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was [broadly unchanged] while Japan's Topix index closed 0.3 percent higher. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index had [slipped 0.5 percent] by 5:33 a.m. ET, with banks leading the losses following the UBS results. S&P 500 futures are pointing to a [lower open]. Coming up... While GDP is the big number of the day, durable goods orders for December, also released at 8:30 a.m. ET, will be worth watching for a recovery from November's -4.5 percent print. At 10:00 a.m. the latest University of Michigan sentiment numbers will published. Also worth watching will be [developments in Greece] following failure  to agree on a way forward at the latest Eurogroup meeting. Here's what you should read today Bond veterans recall [bear markets past]. The ghost of the 1990s is [haunting the dollar]. The world's [biggest real-estate buyers] are suddenly short of cash. [Betting on Nordic rain] pays better than your average hedge fund. Trump's White House needs a [proofreader]. 2017 is shaping up to be a [volatile year] for markets. The [curious case] of Constellation Health and Blackstone’s former top deal maker. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning You could make the argument that Twitter, which is due to report earnings on February 9, is more relevant than at any point in its history. It's the preferred social platform of Donald Trump, and news is being made on it constantly. Yesterday we got a major taste of Twitter diplomacy as plans for a meeting between President Trump and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Peña Nieto broke down for all to see. Yet Twitter (the stock) remains in the doldrums, fairly close to its all-time lows. Not only are the company's shares performing badly, there's a sense that it's not as enjoyable as it used to be. As my colleague Matt Levine put it the other day, [in a tweet], the site is now "emphatically not fun." The reason it's not as fun as it used to be is the same reason it's more relevant than ever: the site has become a gigantic discussion about one thing. Just as a perfectly steady, metronomic heartbeat [is a sign of sickness], so too is a conversation that never deviates. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Markets newsletter. [Unsubscribe] | [Bloomberg.com] | [Contact Us] Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022