5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

• Stock futures slipped Thursday as investors await the latest CPI data.
• Federal Reserve officials were split on their half-point rate cut.
• Delta Air Lines says its earnings are on the climb.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. Wait-and-CPI

Stock futures slipped Thursday as investors await the latest CPI data, out at 830 a.m. ET. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell or 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures fell roughly 0.2%. each. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate the consumer price index for September to show a 0.1% increase on a monthly basis and a 2.3% jump over the prior 12 months. That result will inform the Federal Reserve’s next policy steps when the central bank meets in November. Follow live market updates.

2. Cutting it close

Federal Reserve officials were split on their half-point rate cut, a meeting summary of central bank officials revealed. The decision to cut by a half percentage point came down to balancing confidence on inflation with worries over the labor market, but multiple officials favored a smaller move. In the end, only committee member Governor Michelle Bowman voted against the half-point cut, the first time a governor had dissented on an interest rate vote since 2005. A higher-than-expected jobs report in September cemented confidence that while the Fed likely is in the early days of an easing cycle, future cuts likely would not be so aggressive.

3. Ascending

Delta Air Lines says its earnings are on the climb. The Atlanta-based carrier on Thursday issued fourth-quarter guidance of adjusted earnings between $1.60 and $1.85 per share, up from adjusted EPS of $1.28 a year earlier. The carrier said the confidence is largely thanks to resilient travel demand and already strong bookings for year-end holidays — despite an expected 1-point revenue hit associated with the U.S. presidential election. “We do anticipate seeing a little choppiness around the election, which we’ve seen in past national elections,” CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s Leslie Josephs. “Consumers will, I think, take a little bit of pause in making investment decisions, whether it’s discretionary or other things. I think you’re going to hear other industries talking about that as well.”

4. CVS fights back

CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group filed separate motions to have Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and two other commissioners remove themselves from a suit accusing the companies of boosting their profits while inflating insulin costs for Americans. The companies argued that the three commissioners each have track records of public statements that the companies say indicate “serious bias” against their so-called pharmacy benefit managers. The FTC filed the suit against the three largest PBMs — CVS Health’s Caremark, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx and Cigna’s Express Scripts — last month. Other companies, including Amazon, have attempted to push Khan to be recused from previous cases due to concerns around her objectivity, though Khan has resisted those calls.

5. Milton makes landfall

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm late Wednesday. The storm’s maximum sustained winds have since dissipated to Category 1 territory but officials continue to warn the system is “extremely dangerous.” In the days leading up to the storm’s impact, millions of Floridians were advised to evacuate, with President Joe Biden calling it “a matter of life and death.” Tornadoes hit south-central Florida hours before the storm even hit the coast, and heavy rain made last-minute preparations more difficult as bridges and highways were forced to close. Biden said his administration deployed thousands of federal personnel across the Southeast to aid in the recovery.

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Leslie Josephs, Annika Kim Constantino, Annie Palmer, Lauren Feiner and Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.