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The latest inflation report came in slightly hotter than expected, knocking stock prices lower. But there are some encouraging signs within it. The consumer price index rose by 0.2% in September on a month-over-month basis and 2.4% from the year-earlier period . Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast expected a 0.1% gain month over month and 2.3% increase year over year. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, also was more than expected. Some investors worried the report means the Federal Reserve may not be able to cut rates further. But the odds of a quarter-point Fed rate cut in November actually rose after the report came out. Per the CME Group's FedWatch tool, the fed funds futures market indicated a 94% probability of a quarter-point rate cut next month. That's up from about...

Portra | E+ | Getty ImagesThe Social Security Administration has announced a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for 2025.The agency announced the change on Thursday morning via its press office feed on X and confirmed the news to CNBC by phone.The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2025 is the lowest annual increase since 2021, when beneficiaries saw a 1.3% increase to benefits. In recent years, COLAs have been larger in response to record high inflation.While the cost-of-living adjustment for 2024 was 3.2%, beneficiaries saw the highest increases in four decades in 2023, with an 8.7% increase, and in 2022, with a 5.9% boost to benefits.Now that the pace of inflation has come down, the cost-of-living adjustments are more average. Social Security's annual benefit increases have avera...

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:1. Wait-and-CPIStock 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 closeJerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Monday, ...

A vehicule is stranded on a water-flooded street after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Brandon, Florida on October 9, 2024. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | AFP | Getty ImagesMillions of people in Florida were without power Thursday after Hurricane Milton spawned tornados, flooding, powerful winds and left multiple people dead.Milton made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key on Florida's west coast south of Tampa Bay. The storm churned east-northeastward toward Cape Canaveral with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour and is moving off the coast of Florida into the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.More than 3 million people were left without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. A crane collapses on a building, during heavy ra...

(This is CNBC Pro's live coverage of Thursday's analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A pharmacy operator and an industrial stock were among the stocks being talked by analysts on Thursday. Barclays upgraded CVS to overweight from equal weight, calling for 24% upside. Meanwhile, JPMorgan lowered its rating on Honeywell International to neutral from overweight. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:50 a.m.: Barclays upgrades CVS, sees 24% upside Barclays sees significant upside ahead for shares of CVS . The bank upgraded the pharmaceutical stock to overweight from equal weight. Analyst Andrew Mok accompanied the rating change by lifting his price target to $82 from $63. CVS has slipped 16% this year, but ...