NEW YORK, Jan 3, 2026, 15:45 ET — Market closed
- Starbucks shares closed down 0.3% on Friday at $83.97.
- Starbucks rolled out a MrBeast marketing partnership tied to “Beast Games,” including a limited-time drink launch.
- Traders are watching late-January earnings, U.S. store changes and the timeline for Starbucks’ China joint venture.
Starbucks Corp shares (SBUX) closed down 0.3% on Friday at $83.97, leaving the stock about 29% below its 52-week high.
The move was small, but it lands as investors reset portfolios for 2026 and reprice consumer discretionary stocks — companies that lean on non-essential spending — as interest-rate expectations shift.
Starbucks on Friday said it will sponsor season two of YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson’s “Beast Games” and roll out a limited-time “Cannon Ball” Refresher drink on Jan. 14, Nation’s Restaurant News reported. “When contestants saw Starbucks on set, they said it felt like home,” global chief brand officer Tressie Lieberman said in a statement. The report said rivals including Chipotle and McDonald’s have also leaned into pop-culture tie-ins.
In the broader market on Friday, the S&P 500 ended up about 0.2% while the Nasdaq finished roughly flat, as investors rotated between big technology and more defensive corners of the market.
Rate expectations stayed in focus after Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson said on Saturday that further cuts may take time as officials assess the economy, and described the current funds-rate range of 3.5% to 3.75% as still somewhat restrictive.
Starbucks is also reshaping its own footprint. Chief executive Brian Niccol said in September the company would close North American coffeehouses that lack a path to the customer experience it wants or to financial performance. He said the review would leave the company-operated store count in North America down about 1% in fiscal 2025, with plans to “uplift” more than 1,000 locations — a term Starbucks uses for store refreshes — and eliminate about 900 non-retail roles. 1
In China, Starbucks said in November it agreed to form a joint venture with Boyu Capital, with Boyu holding up to a 60% stake and Starbucks keeping 40% and the brand license. Boyu’s investment was based on a cash-free, debt-free enterprise value of about $4 billion — a metric that values a business before cash and debt — and Starbucks said it expects to finalize the deal in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, pending regulatory approvals. 2
Technically, Starbucks is hovering near its 50-day moving average of about $84.79, while its 200-day average sits around $87.32, according to Yahoo Finance. Moving averages are simple trend gauges based on average closing prices over a set period.
Investors will be looking for signs that marketing buzz converts into in-store traffic, and that store closures and renovations do not dent sales. Updates on China — where the joint venture is meant to speed expansion — and on labor costs in North America remain key swing factors.
Before the next session, traders will also focus on the calendar: Yahoo Finance lists Starbucks’ next earnings report for Jan. 27 after the close. Markets will watch comparable sales — sales at stores open at least a year — and any timeline updates on the China deal and U.S. store changes. 3
Macro data can still drive the tape for rate-sensitive consumer names. The U.S. jobs report for December is due on Friday, Jan. 9, and the December CPI inflation report is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 13, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Federal Reserve’s next two-day policy meeting runs Jan. 27-28, with a press conference slated for the afternoon of Jan. 28, the Fed’s calendar shows. A shift in expectations around that meeting could spill over into Starbucks and peers across restaurants and retail.
