Creepin' While the Market's Sleepin'

But I’m smart, lay low, creep awhile
And when I see a punk pass, I smile
-Eazy-E

Man, wake me up when September begins!  Here we are in that time of year again and the market has gotten predictably slow other than some pockets of event-driven strength or weakness.  For every Netflix ($NFLX), which has put on a 40% plus gain in the last 2 weeks, there are 500 stocks slumbering like the Entish tree herders of Fangorn Forest.

So I creep.  The urgency to do something is virtually nil and I have no shortage of blocking and tackling to do on the business side in the meanwhile.

* I’m reading up on the latest S-1 filings as there appears to be a mini-boom in IPOs slated for the next month or so (ten companies have filed in just the last week).

* I’m watching the Treasury melt-up and adjusting some longer-term maturities in response.  I’m also checking out some high dividend payers in the blue chip aisle and kicking the tires on their coverage ratios as possible alternatives to sky high government paper.

* I’m marveling at the inflows in muni bond mutual funds.  Obama Inc just threw $26 billion at the states to keep them from having to layoff public sector workers.  This has aided and abetted investor inflows into muni funds at the second highest weekly rate of the year (a billion dollars last week, what’s up now?).

* I’m reading my friend Mike Bellafiore‘s new book One Good Trade and learning a lot about his firm SMB Capital and what it takes to make it in the prop trading world (I probably couldn’t cut it in that career).  Expect a review sometime this week when I finish it.

* I’m doing a lot of eating.  I know this didn’t need to be in here but I gotta keep it real with you guys.  This summer I discovered buffalo chicken pizza (with like a blue cheese sauce drizzled on it).  My tailor’s gonna need an astrolabe this fall.

* I’m still working on my long-term project of determining the best way to get frontier market exposure.  My hope is to some day have a percentage of all my portfolios invested in the frontier countries in the most efficient way possible.  I want to be early on whatever blows up post-BRIC.  There are a handful of vehicles around right now but none are focused enough on what I’m looking for.

* I’m also talking to clients every day but there isn’t all that much to discuss that they haven’t heard from me already this summer.  There is the usual griping about failed stimulus and non-existent risk-free yields on the money market funds.  A lot of my people are out enjoying themselves, visiting family, lake and beach houses, etc.  This is cool stuff to hear about.  I’m really in tune with everybody lately, which feels good.

So yeah, I’m just creepin’ while the market’s sleepin’…but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to do while waiting for the Fall.