US Stocks were lower last week after Wall Street analysts realized first-quarter corporate earnings would be bad this year because of the pandemic, but they’ve been even worse than expected as companies are beating forecasts by the lowest rate in at least 10 years.

Mortgage rates have dipped to a record low for the second time in as many months.   The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to an average of 3.23% during the week ending April 30, a decrease of 10 basis points from the previous week. This represents the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking this data starting in 1971. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.14%.

So far, 3.5 million mortgage borrowers have requested forbearance, representing nearly 7% of all mortgages nationwide.  That means millions of homeowners can now skip or make reduced monthly payments on the home loan for up to one year.  Eventually, borrowers will need to work out a repayment plan with their lender.  And borrowers need to be careful that they don’t agree to a repayment plan they cannot afford.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett made a lot of news at Berkshire Hathaway’s first virtual annual meeting on Saturday, including revealing that he sold all his airline stocks and didn’t see any value in any major acquisitions amid the coronavirus pullback in stocks.

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, I’m Tyler Simones.