END OF DAY EQUITY,ETF,FX, FUTURES & OPTIONS APRIL 25th

HIGHLIGHTS

BoE Chief Economist Pill says inflation is making the UK as a whole worse off; people in the UK "need to accept" they're poorer; monetary policy needs to weigh on demand
ECB seems more likely to hike by 25bps next week rather than 50bps, according to Econostream citing sources; risk of doing too little currently still greater than the risk of doing too much and would require a 'quite negative' April inflation surprise
Wells Fargo CFO says deposit inflows have abated
First Republic  is mulling up to USD 100bln in asset sales, according to Bloomberg sources
HOWEVER , none of the banks seem to be stepping up to purchase assets of First Republic right now, according to CNBC's Faber
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says the US has unleashed the process of de-Dollarisation; process of switching to non-Dollar currencies is unstoppable
Yellen warns debt default would disrupt Social Security payments, raise borrowing costs ‘into perpetuity’

First Republic is reportedly struggling to come up with a viable solution, such as a sale of all or part of the bank, after announcing it is pursuing strategic operations, according to FT citing sources FRC was reportedly in touch with the US government, while leading options are for some of the large US banks that recently deposited USD 30bln into it to rescue FRC. White House, Fed, and US Treasury reportedly held talks with the bank in recent days. Government is not concerned about contagion beyond FRC. FRC has been hunting for buyers for parts of its business for weeks but is struggling to garner attraction, with potential acquirers citing concerns on taking on too much risk, the sources added. PE firms reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring some assets, but the government is wary about the optics of buyout firms benefitting from recent banking turmoil.