Stocks had a strong week last week led higher by gains in the big technology stocks.  The S&P 500 is now just 1.2% below its Feb. 19th record high.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced a $9.8 billion writedown and 10,000 job losses at their Precision Castparts aircraft parts unit based here in Oregon.  Despite the writedown, Berkshire said second-quarter net income surged 87% because of gains in their stock investments like Apple as markets rebounded.  Berkshire also bought back of $5 Billion worth of their stock in the quarter.

Amazon is in discussions with mall-owner Simon Property Group about using closed J.C. Penney and Sears stores for Amazon fulfillment centers.  For Amazon, more fulfillment centers near residential areas would speed up the crucial last mile of delivery. For the mall owner Simon, turning over what was once prime mall space to fulfillment centers shows they would be willing to relinquish an essential way to bring in more mall traffic to secure a steady tenant.

If it seems like you keep hearing about mortgage rates hitting yet another record low, that's because you are. The 30-year mortgage rate just hit its eighth record low so far this year.  The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 2.88% this past week, according to Freddie Mac. That's the lowest level in the nearly 50 years of the mortgage giant's survey. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 2.44%.

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