New Yorkers support anti-Wall Street protests: poll

An even wider margin, 87 percent, agreed with the protesters’ right to camp out in Lower Manhattan, as long as they obeyed the law. The movement began staging rallies more than a month ago.Support for the protests was split down party lines, with 81 percent of the Democrats saying they backed them, while only 35 percent of Republicans said so.The protests have spread across the country and moved overseas over the weekend. While most rallies were relatively small, violence flared in Rome where tens of thousands of people came into the streets.The movement’s focal point, however, has been New York, where protests have been largely peaceful. Still, less than half of those surveyed approved of the way police have handled the demonstrations, after several episodes in which force has been used on protesters.The largest block of voters, 37 percent, blamed former President George W. Bush’s administration for the nation’s economic problems, while 21 percent blamed banks. Seventy-three percent said they would support tougher government regulation.The Oct 12-16 poll of 1,068 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

M & A wrap: Has Buffett run out of things to buy?

Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway said it will launch a share buyback program, an extremely rare move from Buffett that comes after months of investor complaints that the stock was undervalued. The London Metal Exchange has thrown open its doors to a potential $1.5 billion takeover and is considering a sale that might end the independence its chief executive previously said was not negotiable. A move by Sinohydro, China’s largest builder of dams, to cut the size of an initial public offering in Shanghai bodes ill for other mainland IPOs in the pipeline as a deepening debt crisis in Europe rattles global markets. “Netflix’s biggest slump in seven years is making the mail-order and streaming movie service a 57 percent cheaper takeover target for companies from Amazon.com to Google,” reports Bloomberg. Daily deal website Groupon is committed to launching an initial public offering but the exact timing remains uncertain, the WSJ reported.

EURO GOVT-Bund futures extend losses after 30-yr debt sale

The Bund future fell as much as 78 ticks on the day to 133.77, its lowest since Aug. 25.Before the German auction, the ECB said it lent banks $1.35 billion, a fifth of the demand forecast in a Reuters poll of money markets traders early this week. Only 6 banks bid for the three-month funds, easing some concerns that Euroepan banks were facing acute problems accesssing dollars in the market.