Yes, investors are overlooking the seasonal effect

The summer slowdown in search related marketing, as shown in both Yahoo!'s and Google's results, caused Merrill Lynch to lower their estimates.

The Online Publishers Association also notes a, not very surprising, slowdown in ecommerce time spent online in the US. However, year-on-year there is still considerable growth (17.5% in June 2005, 18.4% in May 2005, 15.7% in June 2004). Basically good news then for eBay, Amazon.com and all the rest.