One report about OpenAI's IPO wiped out tech stocks from Tokyo to New York. Investors are that nervous

Losses were broad across the major indexes, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding roughly 278 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 slid 0.7% and the Nasdaq $NDAQ Composite gave back 1%. Both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are headed for weekly losses, with the Nasdaq down 4.4% through Thursday.

Part of the pressure stemmed from a report that OpenAI may put off its initial public offering until next year, with SpaceX's underwhelming post-debut trading and general turbulence in AI-linked equities cited as reasons for the hesitation. The prospect raised questions about whether infrastructure spending tied to AI development would slow. JPMorgan $JPM Chase, in a note cited by CNBC, said the delay raised concerns about "sustainability of their infrastructure spending given the delay in funding from the capital markets."

Micron $MU Technology stock fell 5%. Advanced Micro Devices and Intel $INTC each retreated as well, falling 4% and 3%, respectively. Oracle $ORCL also moved lower.

Asian markets absorbed especially heavy losses. Tokyo-listed SoftBank Group, one of OpenAI's most prominent investors, cratered more than 12%. Broader regional benchmarks followed: South Korea's Kospi finished down 5.81%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.76%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 4.15%. The rout extended into Europe as well, where the pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1%.

Speaking on CNBC, Julia Hermann of New York Life Investment Management, who serves as global market strategist, pointed to the shift in what is driving markets as a source of concern. Today's leadership from semiconductor and memory chip names, she argued, carries more inherent instability than the Magnificent Seven dominance of recent years — "a structurally more volatile flavor of tech." Compounding that, she said, is a dramatic shift in expectations around Federal Reserve policy: "You have this environment, which is candidly a recipe for volatility."

In the oil market, prices extended their slide, with Brent crude dropping more than 3% to hover around $73 a barrel and drawing closer to the levels seen before the latest round of Middle East hostilities. An Iranian strike on a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz had rattled traders the previous session, sending prices swinging before selling pressure took hold again.