• Stock futures were slightly lower as traders await January's consumer price index report.
• Shares of Tesla have dropped nearly 17% over five straight days.
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell heads back to Capitol Hill for a second day of testimony.

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

1. Inflation index

Stock futures were slightly lower Wednesday morning as investors braced for January's consumer price index report. The key inflation data, set to drop at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show that inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Headline inflation is estimated to have increased 0.3% from December and 2.9% from a year earlier, according to Dow Jones. Follow live market updates.

2. Eyes on the road

Shares of Tesla sank more than 6% Tuesday, notching the EV maker's fifth-straight day of declines. The stock has slipped nearly 17% in that time, wiping out more than $200 billion in Tesla's market cap. While Tuesday's drop came amid rising competition fears from Chinese rival BYD, investors are also increasingly concerned that Tesla could be hurt by CEO Elon Musk's growing list of projects. Musk — who is also the CEO of SpaceX, owns X (formerly Twitter), and leads AI startup xAI — made news this week with an unsolicited, $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI. And that's not to mention his other role as a "special government employee," leading the White House's government efficiency efforts.

3. 'Chaos'

U.S. companies continue to grapple with the potential impact of President Donald Trump's wide-ranging and evolving tariffs on their businesses, with Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley saying Tuesday that the duties are causing "chaos" for the American automotive industry. General Motors CEO Mary Barra meanwhile said she believes GM can mitigate as much as 50% of the potential tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which are currently on pause. Outside of the automotive industry, Citadel CEO and Republican megadonor Ken Griffin called Trump's "bombastic" trade rhetoric "a huge mistake," saying on Tuesday that "the damage has already been done."

4. Healthy results

Shares of CVS Health rose 10% before the bell Wednesday after the drugstore chain beat fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. But higher medical costs and CVS' Medicare Advantage star ratings dragged on the company's insurance business, which reported an adjusted quarterly operating loss of $439 million. The results mark the first full quarter with David Joyner at the helm after the longtime pharmacy benefits executive succeeded Karen Lynch in October.

5. Day 2

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will head back to Capitol Hill Wednesday to appear before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m. ET. On his first day of congressional testimony, the central bank chief signaled to the Senate Banking Committee that policymakers are not in a rush to lower interest rates, telling the senators on Tuesday, "We do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance." Powell also said that the Fed will never have its own digital currency as long as he's at the helm.

— CNBC's Brian Evans, Jeff Cox, Lora Kolodny, Michael Wayland, Yun Li and Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.