North American stocks are likely to open weaker Wednesday, with Yahoo in focus after a management shake-up.

Late yesterday, Yahoo announced an executive shuffling that awards a critical role to CFO Susan Decker, giving her oversight of the company’s main revenue-generating activities and also will result in the departure of COO Dan Rosensweig, among others.

In today’s Canadian economic news, the value of building permits surged to their second highest level on record in October, thanks to huge gains in construction intentions for multi-family dwellings and commercial buildings.

Intentions surpassed the $6 billion mark for only the second time, Statistics Canada said.

In total, municipalities issued just over $6 billion in building permits, up 6.1% from September. This level was second only to the $6.3 billion worth of permits municipalities issued in December 2005.

The Canadian dollar opened at 87.51¢, down 0.09 of a cent.

Crude-oil prices fell 34¢ to US$62.09 a barrel in electronic trading ahead of the release of weekly U.S. petroleum inventory data, which are expected to show higher supplies.

In other news, Merrill Lynch downgraded railroad operators Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian National to “neutral” from “buy,” saying that both companies are now closer to the broker’s price targets.

European market indexes dropped in early action, while Asian bourses closed higher.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index added 105.52 points, or 0.65%, to close at 16,371.28.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 0.43% to 19,026.36.

Toronto stocks moved higher Tuesday, setting yet again a fresh record for the senior exchange, as investors bought into the broader market and reacted favourably to the Bank of Canada’s decision to stand pat on rates.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 47.23 points, or 0.37%, to 12,895.90. The market has gained approximately 365 points over the last five sessions.

Canada’s central bank decided to leave its key overnight rate unchanged at 4.25%.

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with materials, down 0.36%, the only sector not joining the party.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index lost 3.33 points, or 0.12%, to 2,834.34.

In New York, markets advanced on economic news suggesting that inflation pressures remained in check.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 47.75 points, or 0.39%, to 12,331.60, the Nasdaq moved ahead 3.99, or 0.16%, to 2,452.38, and the S&P500 rose 5.64, or 0.40%, to 1,414.76.