Pacific Blog

Money with Murphy: Resisting Panic: A Cautionary Tale from Grandpa’s ReclinerWhen markets drop fast, it’s tempting to hit the eject button. In this episode of Money with Murphy, Kara shares a...

Money with Murphy: Q1 Wake-Up Call Mega-cap tech stumbled hard in Q1, but diversification came through. Kara Murphy breaks down the quarter’s surprises—from market shakeups to rising trade tensions...

Trading Places: How the U.S. Became a Nation of ImportersKey TakeawaysFree trade has helped shape the US economy, offering consumers lower prices and greater access to goods while fostering global...

Fixing America’s Finances: The Rub on Reducing Federal SpendingFor the better part of six decades, the U.S. government, like a household that regularly fails to balance its budget, has spent more...

Money with Murphy: Turbulent Times and Market Volatility: What Investors Need to Know Volatility can feel unsettling, but it’s not unusual and there are still areas of opportunity, if you know...

This past month, I had the privilege of taking the main stage at the Annual Ascend Conference for the Advocacy in Action session—a highlight of the event held on Thursday, February 6. Joined by...

Key TakeawaysThe returns for the largest US stocks over the last 10 years were historically strong, driven by above average earnings growth and valuation multiple expansion.Repeating this...

Executive Orders, Immigration, and Inflation: Trump’s Policy RemixDonald Trump’s first days in office have brought a dizzying number of executive orders. Many of these orders will not have economic...

Opportunity Knocks: Market Review and OutlookIn 2024, the stock market showed once again that it can climb a proverbial wall of worry. The year was marked by a number of headline-grabbing...

Money with Murphy: 2024 Year-in-ReviewAs 2024 winds down, we take a look back at the biggest themes that shaped markets and made headlines this year. From elections and interest rates to the market...

Money with Murphy: Thanksgiving: Drumsticks vs. DollarsGet ready to carve into the numbers this Thanksgiving! In this episode of Money with Murphy, Kara Murphy breaks down how inflation is...

Key TakeawaysMarket rally and Sector Gains: Stocks rallied after the election led by financials, crypto, and small-cap stocks. Focus shifts from politics to policy: With the election settled...

TakeawaysVolatility Defined the Quarter: At the beginning of the third quarter, markets swung dramatically as the presidential election took a few unexpected turns, shaky economic data emerged and...

Money with Murphy: Why Small Business Health MattersKara Murphy, CIO, KIM takes a look at the critical role small businesses play in the U.S. economy, making up nearly half of the nation's...

Where Harris and Trump Stand on Taxes, Tariffs and More Recall that it's been less than three months since President Biden decided to step aside and hand the mantle to Vice President Kamala Harris....

Success doesn’t happen overnight, whether you’re building a championship football team or a winning investment portfolio. Just like NFL scouts assess potential players, investors must evaluate...

Inflation’s Slower Pace: Why It’s Not Enough for ConsumersThe Federal Reserve is close to declaring victory over inflation, but consumers aren’t celebrating. Kara Murphy discusses why the slowdown...

Money with Murphy: Market Volatility Unveiled: What You Need to Know NowInvestors often have their favorite market indicators such as stochastics and Bollinger bands. Well one of Kara’s is what she...

Money with Murphy: A Concentrated MarketThe S&P 500 continued to march higher with tech stocks leading the charge. However, nearly 80% of S&P 500 companies underperformed the index. While fixed...

What an Aging Population Means for the Economy and MarketsInvestors have understandably been fixated on the trajectory of inflation, interest rates and other headline-grabbing economic issues. Over...

Money with Murphy: Inflation Update: Understanding Recent Trends and Future ImplicationsIn this week’s Money with Murphy, Kara delves into the complexities of inflation, examining its recent trends...

Earlier this month, I spent a chaotic eight hours in the Austin-Bergstrom airport when severe weather delayed hundreds of flights, stranding thousands of passengers, including myself. Not exactly...

Feelings or Felonies: Which Matters More in the Election?In this special episode of Money with Murphy, Bobby Gomez, Head of Investment Specialists, KIM, joins Kara Murphy to examine the...

Money with Murphy: The New Geopolitical Norm: Implications for InvestorsLast week, we discussed investing during the presidential election. This week, we delve into political risk beyond US borders...

While a party or individual in office can shade economic perceptions, they rarely define the direction of the overall market once a new president is in place. A defining feature of the American...

Money with Murphy- Job Market Jigsaw: Putting the Pieces TogetherLast week, we got the first evidence in months that the job market is weakening. In April, 175,000 new jobs were created. That level...

The Over/Under on HousingIf you’ve bought a house in the past four years, then you know how difficult it has been to navigate the housing market. In 2021, houses in certain parts of the country...

Higher Ground: First Quarter Market Review and OutlookTakeawaysThe U.S. economy continued to show resilience despite elevated inflation and high interest rates, dampening expectations of interest...

In the first quarter of this year, the S&P 500 had an impressive start, ending the quarter up over 10%, its strongest first quarter since 2019. The story surrounding the Magnificent Seven has...

Money with Murphy: Gas Prices on the RiseSince the beginning of the year, the average price of a gallon of gas in the US has jumped 14%, denting many consumers’ wallets and complicating the Federal...

Inflation and the Fed Last week, the Federal Reserve announced no change to interest rates and threw water on any hopes for a rate cut at its next meeting in May.This more-tempered outlook for...

Why Hike Now?: WagesFor most of the last 30 years, prices in Japan have grown at a rate below 2%. Then, like many countries around the world, Japan experienced an acceleration in inflation along...

Money with Murphy: 4th Quarter Earnings SeasonCorporate earnings grew by 4% compared to the previous year, with nearly 75% of companies reporting earnings that were better than expected. While...

Risks in the Red Sea In November, the Houthi terrorist group began attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea in response to Israeli counter attacks to Hamas in the Gaza strip, disrupting maritime...

The Magnificent 7Over the course of 2023, seven of the largest stocks in the United States collectively doubled in value, earning the moniker, “the Magnificent 7.” After such impressive performance...

Money with Murphy: Can the Super Bowl Predict the Stock Market?Can the Super Bowl predict the stock market? The Super Bowl indicator was first introduced in 1978 by sports reporter Leonard Koppett,...

History Lessons: Market Performance in Presidential Election YearsElection Angst It’s no secret that presidential elections are a source of anxiety for many investors, and that’s understandable.For...

The Evolution of BitcoinLet’s talk about bitcoin. On January 10, the SEC approved the long-awaited listing and trading of 11 spot bitcoin exchange traded products. What exactly does this mean for...

A Better Balance: Market Review and OutlookThe markets took investors on a turbulent ride in 2023, outperforming expectations for the better part of the year and ending on a high note. With one...

2024 Market Outlook2023 was full of surprises for investors. Some of the most heard predictions for the year actually never materialized at all: a recession in the US and other developed markets,...

Wrapping up 2023: A Year-End Video Medley2023 was an eventful year across many areas of the economy and the market. The Fed raised interest rates to the highest we’ve seen since 2001. Oil prices...

Money with Murphy: Santa Claus Rally Comes Ahead of ScheduleWhile not true with every turn of the calendar, September tends to have the worst equity returns and October tends to witness more market...

Real Estate Pulse CheckEven as stock and bond investors are cheering the end of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, the real estate market continues to face challenges. One such example of...

The Impact of Rising Interest RatesOver a year and a half ago, the Federal Reserve began raising the fed funds rate in an effort to slow inflation, which had reached rates not seen in decades....

Money with Murphy: Earnings Season: An Unusual TrendDespite corporate earnings improving over the quarter, stocks are still getting punished. At the end of October, of the nearly 50% of companies...

Q3 Market Review and OutlookAfter a surprisingly strong start to the year for the S&P 500, the third quarter saw disappointing returns for a variety of asset classes. Stocks and bonds suffered...

Money with Murphy: Third Quarter Market Review and OutlookAfter a surprisingly strong start to the year, the third quarter was a little less rosy. We saw an additional interest rate increase,...

Will Student Loan Re-Payments Weigh Down the Economy?Back in 2020, as part of the government’s aggressive efforts to combat the pandemic-stricken economy, the Department of Education paused...

How the Israel-Hamas Conflict Might Impact the MarketsOn Saturday, October 7, 2023, the world witnessed a dramatic turn of events as the militant group Hamas launched a coordinated attack on Israel...

Money with Murphy: What’s Causing the Increase in Gas Prices?The price of a gallon of gas has increased by 20% year-to-date. What’s driving the recent price increases, and what impact is costlier...

Will the United Auto Workers Strike Impact the US Economy?Last week, union workers’ contracts expired without an agreement between the union and company managements on a new contract. Lacking a...

“Monetary actions affect economic conditions only after a lag that is both long and variable.”- Milton Friedman, winner Nobel Prize for Economic SciencesToday we so often hear central bankers...

Money with Murphy: China: Struggle to Reignite Late last year, China swiftly ended its zero-Covid policy, reopening an economy that had been caught in a quarantine stranglehold for years. With that...

Though still over a year away, next year’s presidential election is already feeding into news stories and advertisements. Like every previous election, the state of the economy and financial...

How Can Investors Benefit from AI?With the introduction of ChatGPT and other tools that harness artificial intelligence, a new technological revolution has begun, like it or not. But it’s helpful...

Money with Murphy: What’s Driving the Increase in Long-Term Interest Rates?Last week’s Fitch Ratings downgrade and shift in interest rates brought the ten-year Treasury yield to almost 4.2%. While...

Money with Murphy: Recent Events in RussiaOver the weekend, Russian president Vladimir Putin faced a rebellion from one of his closest allies, Yevgeny Prigozhin. What does this mean for the global...

Money with Murphy: Size and Sector Winners and LosersA couple of weeks ago we talked about how size had become an important determinant of winners in the market, with mega caps leading the charge....

Fundamentals of Investing: How to Survive and Thrive During Financial BubblesThe German philosopher Hegel once said, “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history...

Money with Murphy: Time to Double Down on Large-Cap Winners?Over the last three months, the ten largest stocks in the index have gained over 9% (percent) while the ten smallest have declined by 10%...

For the past three years, the financial markets and all things investing have felt like an intense rollercoaster ride. From a steep drop in stocks in 2020, a jaw-dropping rebound, and new all-time...

Money with Murphy: Global Interest Rates & Central Bank PolicyWith the Fed rate hiking cycle potentially over, what’s happening elsewhere in the world? Kara takes a look at developed and frontier...

Debt Ceiling DebacleWhile today’s debt ceiling debates seem to mark a new level of acrimony and discord in Washington, they are not unlike debates our founding fathers once had. Alexander Hamilton,...

Markets in a Minute: Debt CeilingHere we go again. Democrats and Republicans are locked in a pitched battle over what used to be a fairly routine matter: raising the debt ceiling. While previous...

Money with Murphy: Corporate Earnings – Bright Spots and Continued CautionAs of May 1, about half of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings for the first calendar quarter of the year and...

The Three Little PigsEven though my kids are in or fast approaching their teenage years, we still read together every night. While the stories themselves have morphed from fairytales to solidly...

What the Tortoise and the Hare Can Teach Us About Investing From Uber rides to cocktail parties, often, when I share with someone what I do for a living, they want to know what stock they should...

Goldilocks and the Just Right PortfolioPreviously, we discussed how individuals can successfully build wealth over time by being like the Tortoise and embracing time and consistency. Then last week...

Money with Murphy: What’s the Deal with Oil Pices?Oil prices plummeted in the early days of Covid, then soared and more recently stabilized. Yet, over the weekend, there was another twist in the...

Is Commercial Real Estate the Next Shoe to Fall?After many years of accelerated growth backed by low-interest rates, easy credit, and competitive lending, commercial real estate has become the...

Money with Murphy: Banking Crisis Deja VuKara draws on her experience as a bank analyst during the global financial crisis and reviews lessons learned 15 years ago and what makes this time...

Is the Banking System at Risk?On March 10, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporate (FDIC) officially took over Silicon Valley Bank in order to protect depositors, marking a remarkably swift end to...

Money with Murphy: China’s ReopeningChina is finally reopening after years of rolling lockdowns.  What impact will this have on the global economy?  Watch this week’s Money with Murphy to get Kara...

Battle Royale: The Federal Reserve versus InflationTwo months into 2023, the Federal Reserve is still fighting inflation in the battle royale that began in early 2022. At various points throughout...

Money with Murphy: Hard Landing, Soft Landing, or No Landing?Our original outlook for this year was titled “landing in turbulence.” More recently, though, some have suggested that we are headed for...

Markets in a Minute: Earnings SeasonWith the Federal Reserve slowing its interest rate increases and inflation slowing to a tolerable level, the question remains: what can companies earn in this...

Money with Murphy: Turbulence AheadThe Fed appears to be winning the battle against inflation, but with the potential side effect of lower economic demand. Slower economic activity may cause...

Turbulence Ahead: Market Review and Outlook2022 marked one of the most dreadful years for investors in recent memory. Yearly returns for stocks and bonds clocked in at -19% and -13%, respectively,...

2022 Money with Murphy Mash-upIn 2022, the S&P 500’s bear market reached eleven months old, the Fed continued to tighten monetary policy as inflation accelerated, and recession predictions filled...

Money with Murphy: 2022 In ReviewWhile there are still a few days left in the year, 2022 is likely to go down in the history books as one of the toughest years for investors. Watch Kara put 2022 in...