Global markets slid Wednesday with investors in Europe spooked by a deadly missile blast in Poland, while US markets fretted over a major retailer’s warnings about a weak holiday season. London slid 0.3 percent, weighed down by news UK inflation spiked to a 41-year peak in October amid rocketing energy bills and food prices. Frankfurt fell 1.0 percent and Paris stocks sank 0.5 percent after Asia closed mostly in the red. US stocks closed lower as well, with the broad-based S&P 500 shedding 0.8 percent. The dollar rose against the yen, but slid against the euro and pound. “Reports of missile strikes in Poland on Tuesday naturally caused a shudder in the markets,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at trading platform OANDA. “The prospect of a sudden and unexpected escalation in the war in Ukraine, particularly involving a NATO state, doesn’t bear thinking about but we were almost forced to,” he added. Two people were killed on Tuesday when at least one missile hit a village in NATO member Poland near the Ukrainian border during a mass Russian bombardment.