 Headlines
- Hermine Moves Back Toward Northeast
- Zika Researchers Work to Crack Virus's Genetic Secrets
- European Stocks Edge Higher
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Creating Effective Partnerships and Alliances
Forming a strategic alliance is similar to getting married: It's easy to do, but maintaining a satisfying relationship requires flexibility and commitment.  Following certain guidelines when first establishing an affiliation and participating in ongoing communication are key to forming a fruitful collaboration.
What's in a Name?
There are many types of strategic alliances, but they all have a common goal -- to more efficiently leverage resources and expertise for mutual gain. Teaming up with other entities can be especially beneficial for small businesses because they have fewer resources and less name recognition than larger firms.
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The Markets
"We can never know about the days to come, but we think about them anyway..." --Carly Simon
Economists and market analysts have been thinking a lot about the Federal Reserve and the actions it may take before the end of 2016. Friday's  employment numbers helped fan the speculative fire. The U.S. Labor Department reported the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent with 151,000 jobs added during August.
The broad market consensus was 180,000 jobs would be created, according to MarketWatch. The publication cited a source as saying the report, "...wasn't strong enough to force the Fed to raise rates in September, but it also wasn't weak enough to raise concern about the U.S. economy or dampen the outlook for corporate earnings. As such it's a mildly dovish report..."
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By the Numbers
Notes: S&P 500, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized ... more important disclosure mentions found here. (We urge you to read the entire disclosure statement.)
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