Stuck in fickle market doldrums

It didn't take long to get back into the doldrums this past week.

A mid-week ADP jobs report generated some optimism among traders, but that was quickly squashed on Friday with news from the U.S. Department of Labor that non-farm payrolls fell by 51,000 and unemployment had reached a four-year high of 5.7 percent.

But Friday's market didn't sell off like it could have given that news, as well as the lackluster - OK, pathetic - earnings and forecasts that have been reported.

That gives me hope that maybe we've reached some stability. One analyst on CNBC suggested we're skipping along the bottom.

A chart shows that the 10,962 low in the DOW we hit on July 15 has not yet been revisited. Hopefully that support can hold.

I remain committed to holding a set of ETFs I've blogged about in the last couple of weeks that give me a diversified expsosure to the Dow, S&P 500, mid-cap stocks and financials (details can be found in an earlier posting from a couple of weeks ago).

On Friday, I also nibbled at American Public Education Inc. (APEI), a provider of online post-secondary education.

Some analysts have suggested the stock is poised to do well because of the economic downturn. They suggest people laid off or in transition may seek American Public Education's services to help them facilitate a career change.

But as of Monday morning, I decided to sell the stock because it was getting hit pretty hard and had dropped nearly 5 percent in early trading. Too much for me, particularly in this market.

It's been less than encouraging on the stock buying frong with all the activity of late. But just remember, it has to go down to go up.

Better data for munis

The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to start a free database that provides pricing and credit rating information on municipal bonds for individual investors, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal.

According to the story, the move is an attempt by the SEC to provide more clarity for investors in municipal bonds due to "major shortcomings" in accounting rules for municipalities.

"It's the first real initiative to get retail investors information easily," Frank Chin, chairman of the Municipal Rulemaking Board, told the Journal.

Individual investors own about$1.86 trillion in municipal bonds, according to the article.

The SEC is currnently operating a pilot program of the municipal bond information data service at http://emma.msrb.org.

Brian.