TSX Starts May on Wrong Foot

Canada's main stock index touched its lowest in nearly a week amid a broad sell-off, as investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day.

The TSX Composite decreased 62.52 points, or 1.4%, to open Wednesday and May at 21,652.02.

The Canadian dollar poked up 0.07 cents at 72.65 cents U.S.

In corporate news, shares of uranium miners like Energy Fuels jumped 57 cents, or 8%, to $7.70, and Cameco Corp climbed $2.75, or 4.4%, to $65.55, after the U.S. Senate approved a bill to ban Russian uranium.

On the economic calendar, the Markit Canada Manufacturing PMI registered 49.4 in April, down from 49.8 in March.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.95 points to 582.47.

All but two of the 12 subgroups were lower, as health-care tumbled 3.9%, information technology down 1.2%, and consumer discretionary stocks trailed 0.8%.

The two gainers proved to be gold, shining 0.9% brighter, and materials, improving 0.4%.

ON WALLSTREET

The S&P 500 fell Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s rate policy decision.

The Dow Jones Industrials 52.83 points kick off Wednesday at 37,868.75.

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The much broader index docked 12.75 points to 5,022.94.

The NASDAQ slid 26.24 points to 15,631.58.

Amazon advanced about 3% following better-than-expected earnings and revenue in the first quarter, while chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices tumbled 7% after issuing an in-line revenue forecast for the current quarter. Super Micro Computer slid 12% as revenue came in slightly below the Street’s consensus estimates.

Elsewhere, Starbucks tumbled 15% after the coffee giant slashed its outlook following disappointing same-store sales, while CVS Health tanked 18% after posting disappointing earnings and cutting its profit guidance, and headed for its worst day since November 2009.

Traders are now looking toward the Fed’s interest rate decision Wednesday afternoon. The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady, according to fed funds futures pricing data. Wall Street will be looking for clues from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on what needs to happen before rates can come down.

Several notable earnings reports are also scheduled for release after the bell Wednesday, including Qualcomm and DoorDash.

Investors gained another hint into the state of the labor market ahead of Friday’s April jobs report. ADP’s private employment data showed more workers added than expected last month.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury inched up a bit, lowering yields to 4.65% from Tuesday’s 4.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices fell 66 cents to $81.27 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices recovered $15.00 to $2,317.90.