Dog days

Ah, Dies Caniculares! Dog days indeed! It's deader than a disco in the the City and business is drier than a deceased dingo's donger. Late summer 2013 has taken on an elegiac quality as the traditional August slowdown seems to become more deeply entrenched with each passing year and what was merely a quiet period has become something of a shutdown with investment banks almost mothballed for five weeks. The competition slips into a funk and gets a taste of what it's like to be a subsistence broker all year round.