"I see your point, however, M&As are indicative of said market shift, in and of itself. Majors can try to be ahead of the market but since they are part of the market, then, it'd be like saying that they are trying to be ahead of themselves, which is just nonsensical if not impossible."

What?!

They're not trying to be ahead of themselves, just everyone else. In a race that would be being ahead of the pack which makes you the winner. Being ahead of oneself is to approach something before due thought and DD had been performed, without having weighted all angles, and I assure you these people do.

At this point in time it is estimated that we have a record level or unparalleled amount of cash on the sidelines. Companies are sitting on large amounts of spending power, which pretty much put them ahead of what was to be the current market slide, placed in a position to observe market timing for grabbing the goldfish out of the bowl for the cheapest pennies. The Majors are not as concerned with the market as much as their place in the future, so they grab what they want when it is a good deal for them and that is that. They just happen to be ahead of the bagholders who are sitting on debt instead of cash, unable to move. Everyone is part of the market if one wants to be technical about it, but that doesn't preclude one from being ahead of it since the market ultimately is other people. The proof is in the bank account.

For some time we have seen M&A but not to the scale that had been predicted. That is because the best deals are still forming as our markets still haven't finished finding a bottom..... as we've been able to witness of late. There seems to be no rush so I suspect that augers something.....or somethings.