Stocks set to step back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set to open lower Monday as investors continue to worry about the state of the nation's economy.

At 7:38 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were lower.

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Friday's release of the January employment report left the Dow lower and the S&P 500 little changed on the day.

David Kelly, economic adviser for Putnam Investments, said for the most part the economic and earnings news last week was very good, and that helped lift stocks to their best week since September.

"Last week was the big week for news, but that good news is already priced in to the market," he said. "This week, without a lot of economic or earnings coming up, it's tough for investors to see where the good news to lift the market is going to come from."

The Institute of Supply Management's survey of executives from the service sector is the only report due Monday, with economists forecasting that the 10 a.m. ET report will edge slightly higher.

Oil was lower. U.S. light crude eased 11 cents to $58.91 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices rose. The 10-year note yield slipped to 4.81 percent from 4.82 percent late Friday. The dollar was lower against the yen but higher versus the euro in early trading.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly lower, while the major indexes in Europe were little changed in early trading.

Michael Dell, the chairman of Dell (Charts) who reassumed the CEO duties last week, wrote an e-mail to employees reported over the weekend that said the company was dropping bonuses for 2006 and reducing the number of managers to help cut costs.

General Electric (Charts) is set to name Jeff Zucker as the newCEO of its NBC Universal unit, replacing long-time chief Bob Wright, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores (Charts) estimated Saturday that January sales rose a stronger-than-expected 2.2 percent at its U.S. stores open at least a year, giving the company that struggled to post sales gains at times in 2006 a strong start to the year.

Triad Hospital (Charts) became the latest company to be purchased by private equity investors after it agreed to be puchased for $4.7 billion, plus $1.7 billion in assumed debt.

Simon Property Group Inc. and hedge fund Farallon Capital Management made a $1.56 billion offer for mall owner Mills Corp. (Charts), which last month agreed to be bought by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

Brewer Anheuser-Busch (Charts), which had more Super Bowl commercials than any other advertiser, saw the best viewer response to its spots, according to several online polls measuring reaction to Super Bowl ads to Sunday's game, but critics generally panned the quality of spots on the broadcast.

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