Starbucks beats quarterly sales estimates as US demand holds strong

Shares of the global coffeehouse juggernaut rose 3% in premarket trading. Starbucks has benefited from a younger, more affluent consumer base despite the wider U.S. restaurant industry grappling with a slowdown as sticky inflation prompts people to rethink dining out. Traffic at the coffee chain's U.S. locations jumped throughout the quarter, data from Placer.ai showed, and received a further boost from the fanfare around its iconic fall season staple, the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which returned to menus late in August.