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Over at Forbes.com they're pointing out that since September 10, Yahoo's stock price is up 15 percent, while Google's has only risen about half that much over the same period. Of course, the difference here is that Yahoo still hasn't returned to its 52-week high of $33.61, and Google hit an all-time high of $571.46 only two days ago. And yes, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, Google still has twice as much search market share as Yahoo. But still, something must be right in The House of Jerry Yang to get investors buying. Forbes points to new partnership deals, a bargain-priced stock, and rumors that somebody — Microsoft? — will buy the company soon enough. That would explain it. But perhaps there's more to the stock rise than that.

Another thought: Yahoo's advertising platform, code-named Panama, which advertisers have raved about since launch, is finally kicking in on the bottom line, boosting search-ad revenues, making up a bit for Yahoo's flagging display business. Unfortunately, a rising stock price amid sinking morale, especially on Yahoo's ravaged and reorganized banner-ad sales force, also reveals something about new president Sue Decker, a former financial analyst: She's better at pleasing the street than running the organization.