US benchmark equity indexes plunged intraday, extending losses from the previous session, as China retaliated with fresh tariffs on US goods and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged inflation risks from the ongoing trade war.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 4.8% at 15,747.5 after midday Friday, while the S&P 500 dropped 4.6% to 5,148. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4% to 38,928.9. All sectors were lower, led by energy.

The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed duties on several countries, including China, which responded Friday with its own retaliatory tariffs of 34% on US products. The Nasdaq sank 6%, the S&P 500 shed 4.8% and the Dow slid 4% on Thursday.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares dropped 7.1%, among the worst performers on the Dow, along with Apple (AAPL), which fell 6.1%. Tesla (TSLA) lost 8.6%, with other mega-cap technology stocks Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (META) also down intraday.

Tech companies may be heading into "dark days" as Trump's new tariffs could reduce earnings by at least 15%, making trade negotiations a pressing priority, Wedbush Securities said.

"If these (US) tariffs went into place at current form, overall tech earnings would come down 15% at least, the supply chain will be a Rubik's Cube rivaling COVID days, and the economy would go into a recession/stagflation," the brokerage said.

Canada will match the White House's 25% auto duties with a similar tariff rate on vehicles imported from the US that don't comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, Reuters reported Thursday, citing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

US Treasury yields were lower intraday Friday, with the 10-year rate dropping 8.3 basis points to 3.97% and the two-year rate shedding 7.8 basis points to 3.64%.

Powell said that Trump's tariffs will likely drive inflation higher and slow down US economic growth.

"While uncertainty remains elevated, it is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected," Powell said. "The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth."

In other economic news, the US economy added 228,000 jobs in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The consensus was for a 140,000 increase in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate increased to 4.2% from 4.1% month on month.

"Given the ongoing efforts to shrink the federal government and rising trade uncertainty, we suspect that job growth is likely to soften over the coming months," TD Economics said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil plunged 7.6% to $61.85 a barrel intraday. Oil prices were on track to their lowest close since the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, D.A. Davidson said in a note.

Gold was down 2.5% at $3,044.60 per troy ounce, while silver tumbled 6.8% to $29.79 per ounce.