10 things you need to know in markets today

1, Risk aversion has reared its head in early Asian trade on Friday following news that Donald Trump has asked the US Trade Representative (USTR) to consider an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports.“In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.

3. President Trump said on Thursday he would take a very serious look at policies that might affect online retailer Amazon.com.Speaking to reporters while traveling back to Washington from West Virginia, he accused Amazon of not operating on a level playing field.

5. Bahrain announced that it discovered at least 80 billion barrels of crude oil in a shale reserve.The island kingdom to the east of Saudi Arabia is the smallest and oldest energy producer in the Persian Gulf, according toBloomberg. Depending on how much is extractable, the discovery could beef up Bahrain's output in the region that includes heavyweights such as the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

6. Samsung Electronics said on Friday its first-quarter operating profit likely rose 57.6% from a year earlier, beating market expectations.The tech giant said its January-March profit was likely 15.6 trillion won ($14.7 billion), compared with an average forecast of 14.5 trillion won from a Thomson Reuters survey of 21 analysts.

8. Institutional investors are pulling money out of Pershing Square Capital at a "rapid pace," according to a Wall Street Journal report.Citing people familiar with the matter, The Journal reported Thursday that "about two-thirds of the cash that could be withdrawn at the end of the year" was "being pulled" from the fund. The fund makes one-eighth of its capital available for redemption each quarter.

10. Travis Kling, a former portfolio manager at Steve Cohen's Point72 hedge fund, is starting his own cryptocurrency venture, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.Kling, who left Point72 in December 2017, "fell down the crypto rabbit hole," his LinkedIn profile says. He is launching a $25 million fund this summer with the hope of raising another $25 million by year end.

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