"It is like the third week in August," he added, referring to the light trading of the summer doldrums.

For some mutual fund companies, the summer doldrums are brought on by overall activity being down so much.

"I think we're getting the summer doldrums right now," he said.

And as usual, there's little time for appraisal, what with the primary coming so soon after the summer doldrums.

"But with the summer doldrums comes a lack of liquidity," he said.

Even in the midst of the summer doldrums, people continue to move on to new jobs.

Until its arrival in the 1920's, the movie industry suffered summer doldrums.

Still, this is a complex campaign and there has been little time since the summer doldrums for the candidates to capture public attention.

"How do you help get out of the summer doldrums and get that audience to come to your set?"

Still, sales have slowed since the summer doldrums took hold.