"Mine is that POET requested the halt first-hand in the morning as part of their strategy to gain market attention."

I will definitely agree that was a by-product, Lookingintoit, and, if the news had been released anytime before Tuesday morning, I would even say that was part of the intention of management. I cannot imagine regulators agreeing to a long halt for dramatic effect, once we got by Tuesday with no news, I concluded that my initial reaction of Monday morning (leak, but news not yet completely baked, as Benjamin in The Graduate would have put it), was correct.

At this point, of course, it's more or less academic, what is important, as you write, is, "At the end of the day, one thing stands, a news is pending."