Bulls head back to the barn

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks could slip slightly in the early going after news of executive shakeups swirl around some struggling companies and some disappointing tech earnings.

Stock futures were narrowly lower in early trading, but a comparison to fair value, which predicts the direction of U.S. markets at the open, points to the blue chip S&P starting slightly higher while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is set to be narrowly lower at the start.

Yahoo (Charts) edged slightly higher after announcing that Chief Operating Officer Daniel Rosensweig and Media Group chief Lloyd Braun will leave the company while Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker took on additional responsibilities seen as positioning her as a successor to CEO Terry Semel.

Yahoo has struggled with a shift in the online ad market, as its shares have lost nearly a third of its value over the last 12 months while competitor Google (Charts) has gained almost 20 percent over the same period.

Joe Eberhardt, the No. 2 executive at Chrysler Group who oversaw sales, marketing and service for the North American unit of DaimlerChrysler (Charts), is also giving up his post and will become a dealer for DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes unit.

Chrysler, which had been profitable even as competitors General Motors (Charts) and Ford Motor (Charts) lost money on their auto operations, has fallen into red ink as well on sharply lower sales.

Business software manufacturer Novell (Charts) posted disappointing results due to weak sales of older products, and said it expects to take restructuring charges in 2007 that helped drive its shares down 8 percent in after-hours trading.

Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co., said he thinks the Novell news is weighing on futures more than the executive moves.

"It's enough to give us pause to think about IT spending," Hogan said. "Novell is not an Oracle, but it is a player in Linux."

But Hogan thinks many investors will be biding their time Wednesday and even Thursday, looking ahead to the November jobs report that is due Friday morning. Economists are forecasting modest gains in jobs and a slight increase in the unemployment rate.

"It's quiet in terms of economic data right now," he said. "I think that (jobs report) is the biggest driver as we look at the week as a whole."

Oil prices were slightly lower ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET report on U.S. fuel inventories. U.S. crude was off 19 cents at $62.24 a barrel, while Brent crude futures lost 11 cents to $63.21.

The dollar was again weaker against the euro but little changed against the yen, while treasuries were slightly lower, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.46 from the 4.44 percent level reached late Tuesday.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly higher, as Taiwan stocks hit a six-year closing high. Major indexes in Europe were mixed in early trading.

More market news and futures ahead of the U.S. open