• Advertising Age, Friday, October 17, 2008 11:15 AM

The stock market is no stranger to volatility right now, but one stock got a peculiar dose of it yesterday following remarks by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Speaking at a Gartner conference in Orlando, Fla., Ballmer said that the deal still makes "economic sense." Within a few hours, Yahoo's stock had soared 20 percent.

Ballmer acted immediately to tamp down expectations. An e-mail sent to Advertising Age read: "Our position hasn't changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies." The stock quickly fell back to around $13.

Still, it's hard not to notice that the deal makes more sense now than it did when it was originally made. Yahoos stock is seriously slumping right now. At the time of Microsoft's initial $31-a-share bid,), Yahoo's stock had been hovering around the $18-$19 range.

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