October 17, 2002

Bank of Canada leaves its benchmark target rate for overnight loans between banks at 2.75 percent (S)

Microsoft Corp's plan to impose new pricing program has been prompting many complaints from corporate and government customers for several months; analysts say early results indicate that move was shrewd financially, at least in short run; new plan moves customers to subscription model of paying yearly fees for updated software, instead of deciding each time whether to buy new version of Windows, Office or other Microsoft programs; some institutional customers pay more than before, and others less; industry analysts estimate that those signings will add $600 million to more than $1 billion in revenue to Microsoft's results for quarter ended September; chief executive Steve Ballmer says he is aware of complaints about new pricing policy; photo (M)

Porsche decides against listing shares on New York Stock Exchange to avoid 'considerable extra costs' resulting from new financial oversight law (S)

Indonesian government, in about-face, acknowledges that fundamentalist Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah exists and is terrorist organization, and that its leader may be Abu Bakar Bashir, Islamic preacher who expresses admiration for Osama bin Laden and loathing for Jews and West; several foreign governments suspect group was involved in blast in Bali; Indonesian government is under pressure from United States to act decisively against terrorism; Indonesia's State Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stops short of saying Bashir will be arrested, as US and other countries have requested; Yudhoyono says for first time publicly that Hambali, another Indonesian cleric, is one of Jemaah Islamiyah's leaders; Asian and Western intelligence agencies say it was Hambali who allied Jemaah Islamiyah with Al Qaeda in 1990's; Philippine officials say they will indict Hambali, who has been fugitive for many months, on charges of illegal possession of explosives that were intended for attacks on American and Israeli Embassies in Singapore that were thwarted by Singaporean police; there is speculation that some of those explosives were used in Bali bombing; photo (L)

Stocks plunge as onslaught of negative earnings news dampens spirits that powered four-session rally that sent Dow Jones industrial average up 13.3 percent; Dow Jones industrial average drops 219.65 points, or 2.7 percent, to 8,036.03, while Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is off 21.25 points, or 2.4 percent, to 860.02; Nasdaq composite index falls 50.02 points, or 3.9 percent, to 1,232.42; US Treasury bond prices fall; yield on 10-year note is at 4.05 percent, up from 4.01 percent; price falls 10/32, to 102 21/32; graphs; charts (M)