S&P 500 futures are little changed on Monday evening: Live updates

European markets opened mixed Tuesday as investors weigh data from Asia and the U.K.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was flat in the first minutes of trading, with sectors spread across marginally positive and negative territory. Retail stocks led minor gains with a 0.7% uptick, while media stocks dropped 0.3%.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Japan’s economy grew 6% on an annualized basis in the three months ended June, beating expectations of a 3.1% expansion from economists polled by Reuters.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, growth came in at 1.5% for the second quarter, almost double the 0.8% expected.

The data showed the fastest rate of growth since the fourth quarter of 2020, when Japan recorded a 2.8% quarter-on-quarter growth and an annualized growth of 11.7%.

—Lim Hui Jie

China’s central bank unexpectedly cut key policy rates for the second time in three months on Tuesday.

The People’s Bank of China said it cut the interest rate on 401 billion yuan ($55.25 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans from 2.65% to 2.50.

The central bank also enacted a reverse repurchase operation of 204 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repos, and cut borrowing costs to 1.8%, down from 1.9%.

— Lim Hui Jie

China’s industrial production and retail sales figures for July both missed expectations, adding to the weak batch of economic data seen by the country.

Industrial production increased by 3.7% year on year, missing the 4.4% expected by economists polled by Reuters. On a year to date basis, industrial production increased by 3.8% year-on-year.

Separately, retail sales in China grew 2.5% year-on-year, with total retail sales reaching 3.68 trillion yuan in July, lesser than the 4.5% growth rate expected by the Reuters poll.

— Lim Hui Jie

In Monday’s market rebound, an unexpected event unfolded for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500: Both indexes registered roughly the same point change.

The broad market index gained 0.58% Monday, or 25.67 points. Meanwhile, the 30-stock Dow added 26.23 points, or 0.07%.

The last time these two indexes posted the same point change – rounded up to the nearest whole number, that is – was on June 6, with both adding 10 points.

However, it remains an infrequent occurrence: Prior to June, the last time the S&P 500 and the Dow notched the same point gain was on Jan. 16, 2018.

Dating back to 2010, the two indexes have closed with the same point change 15 times – or less than half a percent of the 3,426 trading sessions that have taken place since then.

–Darla Mercado, Robert Hum

A few homebuilder stocks rose in after-hours trading Monday after a new regulatory filing revealed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway built new stakes in them.

The Omaha-based conglomerate picked up $726 million worth of D.R. Horton shares, $70 million worth of NVR shares as well as $17.2 million worth of Lennar in the second quarter, the filing showed. D.R. Horton climbed 2.8% in extended trading, while Lennar gained 1.7% and NVR rose 1.1%.

These stakes are relatively small for Berkshire, whose equity portfolio is worth nearly $350 billion. They could have been purchased by Buffett’s two investing lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who oversee about $15 billion each.

— Yun Li

Shares of Discover Financial Services fell more than 5% after the company announced the resignation of CEO Roger Hochschild, effective immediately.

The financial services company’s board appointed John Owen as interim president and CEO, and said Hochschild will stay on as an advisor through the end of the year.

— Samantha Subin