NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Investors could be looking to oil prices for direction in trading Tuesday following an up and down day to start the new quarter.

Stock futures were up narrowly, indicating a flat to slightly higher open for stocks, after Monday's stock rally ran out of steam in the afternoon on lower U.S. auto sales, led by sharp drops in sales at General Motors (Research) and Ford Motor (Research).

But oil, which climbed to close to $67 a barrel Monday, eased in early trading ahead of Wednesday's report on U.S. fuel inventories.

The May light crude futures contract for NYMEX fell 51 cents to $66.23 a barrel in electronic trading, while the May contract for Brent crude lost 53 cents to $66.31.

"This is a directionless market. Everyone is looking for some way to pick up a trend, but it doesn't seem to be emerging," said Michael Carty, stock market strategist, New Millennium Advisors. "I'm going to sit tight and wait till about midday before I make any commitments."

Major markets in Asia closed mixed Tuesday as Japan's Nikkei ended its seven-session winning streak. Major European markets were down in early trading.

Treasury prices were slightly higher, cutting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.86 percent from 4.87 late Monday. The dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, Merrill Lynch (Research) said in a filing with regulators late Monday that it will take a $1.2 billion first-quarter charge due to new accounting rules for employee stock compensation, which is $850 million more had been expected. The Wall Street firm also made changes to existing stock awards.

Computer Sciences Corp. (Research) is in talks about a possible sale of the company, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, and the company could go for more than $10.6 billion.

The Journal also reports that financier Carl Icahn will not seek control of video retailer Blockbuster (Research) at its shareholder meeting next month, despite his earlier threat and the company's declining video rental revenue.

A jury is expected to start deliberations Tuesday on the latest case over health risks associated with Merck's (Research) pain drug Vioxx. While the drug manufacturer has won most of its cases involving Vioxx so far, its one loss came at the hands of the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier, who is also the lawyer in this case.

________________

For a more detailed look at the markets before the open, click here.