Mortgage Industry ...Going north or south

With the recent buyout of Country Wide by Bank of America for 4 Billion Dollars. Where is the market heading.  Now Bank of America has the largest market share.  I guess they really put their money where their mouth is.  Now there are talks about JP Morgan Chase making a play to buy WaMu.  Why all of a sudden are these major takeovers happening in out time of desparir? In my opinion it looks like these major banks were looking to strike while the iron is hot.  Does this mean they are hopeful that their large investments will be soon paying off.  do they smell a market correction in the near future or were they betting on the wrong hand... you decide???