However, Bartz isn't interested in airing all of her dirty laundry publicly. The new chief said that any talks between Yahoo and its erstwhile suitor, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), would be conducted behind closed doors. "We're going to negotiate as companies negotiate, privately," asserted Bartz, though she didn't indicate whether she favors a search deal with the Windows parent.

Although she's more alarmingly candid than your average CEO, the market seems mildly enthusiastic about Bartz. YHOO has climbed nearly 8% since she took the reins in mid-January, and the stock has racked up a 20-day call/put ratio of 2.94 on the International Securities Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. In other words, option traders have bought to open nearly 3 times more bullish bets than bearish.

But, just as the fate of its search business continues to weigh on Yahoo, the 14 level is looming over the stock like a storm cloud. This region has stifled the security's progress since mid-October 2008, and the shares were most recently rebuffed from this level on February 9.

During the short term, bullish option players could help to augment this area's strength as resistance. In the March options series, there are 15,114 call contracts at the 14 strike, with another notable accumulation of 22,214 contracts at the 16 strike. As expiration gradually approaches, the unwinding of hedges related to these calls could exert additional pressure on YHOO.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.