Screen reader access to symbols (special characters) inside data tables

Hi All -- I am testing a table with symbols that convey meaning like, up /
down arrows. The problem is that JAWS will not voice the symbols.
Interestingly, on a different web page, JAWS voiced the single dagger and
double dagger symbols correctly, voiced the approximate symbol as an equal
to, but did not voice the cell with the up arrow symbol. Has anyone
experienced this quirkiness with JAWS and symbols before?

If you are interested, go to
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/web/codehtml.html and pick
the table called Additional Punctuation Codes, which is at the end.

Just curious if it is a known issue.

Tested with I E 7, Firefox 3.6, and JAWS 10 on Windows Vista

Thanks,
Devarshi