Stock markets worldwide are careening even lower Friday after China matched U.S. President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs in an escalating trade war. Not even a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market, which is usually the economic highlight of each month, was enough to stop the slide.    

The S&P 500 was down 4.8 per cent in afternoon trading, coming off its worst day since COVID-19 wrecked the global economy in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,719 points, or 4.3 per cent, as of 1:08 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.9 per cent lower.

Canada’s main stock index, S&P/TSX, had already fallen 1,221 points, more than five per cent, as of 1:20 p.m. ET. 

So far, there are few, if any…