If you have half an eye on the markets today, you've probably noticed Yahoo stock going up like a roman candle again, on the strength of rumors that *shudder* the Microsoft deal to purchase the company is in discussions again.

So says Techcrunch; other sources claim that this is simply an extension of the search-engine related discussions which were most recently in play.

Either way, it's an unwelcome distraction from the core business at Microsoft, one which won't seem to go away, and it is possible that simply the ongoing discussions are having a negative effect even if the ultimate tragedy that would be a culmination of the deal never does. Certainly it isn't helping Microsoft's stock price... and I believe in this case the market knows what it's talking about.