This is the kind of post that emphasizes the difference between retail sentiment and institutional decision making. There are so many errors in the rant that I cannot address them and frankly I could care less. Everyday people make choices, whether to buy, sell, or do nothing on a stock. We have a lot of new information to sort through today, and some will opt to sell. Some will piss and moan about the deal. Some people are afraid of change. Some people had irrational expectations to begin with. All of that is being expressed in the market right now in real time.

It is midday and ECU has traded less than 1 million shares. To me that means people are digesting the info and I am not seeing any signs of panic from the shorts, nor any mass dumping from the longs. The sector is in the toilet and that alone would justify the kind of market action we have today even if there was no news from the company.

The bottom line is that management has acted to move the company forward in the way they think is most appropriate, but it is up to the shareholders of both companies to vote. We are the owners of this story and collectively we will decide whether or not the deal is a good one. Any announcement today is nothing more than a proposal.

I also find it ironic that some are complaining of insider knowledge, and then someone else complains they called the company did not get notice of the deal. I have tried calling ECU twice in the last week without a reply, and now I understand why they were keeping quiet. However for sure the company chose to speak with some institutional shareholder to solicit an opinion and for sure the word was out on this deal. The fact that the stock was rising on high volume during this week suggests to me that the overall opinion is the deal is positive.

I also recall that when Goldcorp bought out Glamis, the opinion from retail shareholders was extremely bearish. I think that deal was a win-win, and so too will this one.

cheers!

mike