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Nearly 100,000 illegal immigrants graduate high schools annually without DACA protection, study finds

As Congress and the White House have struggled to reach a deal on immigration reform, a D.C. think tank released a study Wednesday estimating that about 33,000 more illegal immigrants than previously thought were graduating from U.S. high schools every year.

The study, released on Wednesday by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), reached a 98,000 figure after applying public school graduation rates, among subgroups, to the estimated total number of illegal immigrants who reached high school graduation age (125,000). A previous estimate from 2003 put the number of illegal-immigrant high school graduates at 65,000.

MPI, which describes itself as a "nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank," reported that California and Texas graduated the most illegal immigrant students with 27,000 and 17,000 respectively. Those two states represented 44 percent of the graduates while Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois graduated at least 4,000 each -- 5,000 in Florida's case.

Many, if not all, of those 98,000 students likely won't obtain protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — which protects around 680,000 who came to the U.S. as minors — as the administration has refused to accept requests from individuals who never held protected status.

MASSACHUSETTS JUDGE CHARGED WITH HELPING MAN EVADE ICE

DACA likely will be a part of any immigration deal that Congress passes since Democrats repeatedly have demanded the president address that through legislation.

The number of graduates could be higher given that MPI used Census data to inform its study. Noting that illegal immigrants had an incentive to stay undetected, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor looked at the issue but bypassed population surveys and looked at data including border apprehensions and visa overstays.

The joint study, released in 2018 with Yale University, estimated that about 22.1 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States — roughly double the 11.3 million figure that MPI cited in its research.

MPI's estimate came as the Trump administration has pressed Congress to address the growing crisis at the southern border. As unprecedented numbers of migrants have tried crossing the border, law enforcement agencies have faced limits over how long they could detain migrants -- and ultimately had to release some into the United States and Mexico.

BORDER PATROL UNION CHIEF BLASTS CONGRESS OVER MIGRANT CARAVANS: 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?'

The study also came amid questions over how much tax money U.S. citizens have paid in support of services for illegal immigrants — an issue that President Trump and many others have highlighted during his administration.

Trump's Commerce Department appeared to address the issue in 2018 when it announced it would add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census. Democrats blasted the administration for depriving states and localities of data used to provide government services.

A 2017 study found that illegal immigrants consumed at least $100 billion a year in taxpayer benefits — including from federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.

Although Trump has threatened to shut down asylum entry, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appeared to focus on building a southern border wall and fortifying ports of entry. Describing the department's "robust relationship" with the military, Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan told Fox News' Dana Perino that even without Congress' assistance, he expected substantial progress on a border wall in 2019.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, meanwhile, indicated she wanted to address economic issues before tackling immigration in Congress.

"Our view of how we go forward is if we can change people’s financial security ... if we can give people confidence, end some of their insecurities about their own economic situation, there will be a better atmosphere among some who are opposed to immigration in the country," she said earlier in April.

The California Democrat also pushed back on the president's rhetoric, accusing him of engaging in "tantrums." "We all know we need to secure the border," she said at a party retreat in April.

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“We don’t need a lecture or tantrums from the president on that score," she added. "But, we do want to work together for comprehensive immigration reform, and I am pleased to see it reported that [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell is ready to talk about that because we have a symptom at the border.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) reportedly started drafting immigration legislation to propose after the House addresses DACA and the Temporary Protected Status program. Although legislation has been introduced to address those issues, they awaited action in the House Judiciary Committee.

Source: Fox News National

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Carry on: central bank signals leave ‘carry’ traders chasing more

FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration/File Photo

March 18, 2019

By Tommy Wilkes

LONDON (Reuters) – Collapsing asset price volatility has turned ‘carry trading’ into one of investors’ top plays of 2019. Many reckon the run is far from over.

This strategy sees investors borrow in currencies where interest rates are low to invest in countries where yields are high, such as in emerging markets. Investors can pocket the difference, or ‘carry’.

For the trade to work liquidity needs to be plentiful, the global economic backdrop benign and, importantly, currency volatility next to nothing. Broadly, all those conditions seem to be in place.

Volatility, or vol, had been crushed this year by central banks’ decisions to hit the pause button on interest rate rises. Societe Generale analyst Kit Juckes says markets’ “outright boredom” so far in 2019 has been the perfect recipe for carry trade success – FX volatility is near multi-year lows.

As a result, carry trading has returned 5.5 percent in 2019, according to HSBC’s Global FX Carry Index. That follows a fall of 1.4 percent in 2018, when rising U.S. interest rates caused a stampede out of emerging markets, the favored place to earn carry.

The current environment for carry is “textbook”, says Andreas Koenig, head of foreign exchange at Amundi Asset Management.

(GRAPHIC: Speculators long on Mexican peso – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cg2cxu)

SELL AND BUY

Koenig has been betting on the Turkish lira and Brazilian real, both of which offer yields well into the double digits.

Investors buying 10-year Russian government bonds can earn yields of 8.5 percent, or 8 percent in Mexico. Those returns have been further burnished by currency appreciation — some emerging currencies such as the rouble have firmed as much as six percent against the dollar and euro.

On the other hand, the Japanese yen, Swiss franc and euro tend to be carry traders’ funding currencies of choice, as their low yields make them attractive to sell.

Yields in Switzerland on the benchmark bond return -0.35 percent; in Germany barely 0.07 percent. But the euro has been particularly popular this year as the struggling economy has further delayed policy tightening plans in the bloc.

(GRAPHIC: Comeback for carry – https://tmsnrt.rs/2O2a6iz)

But can the good times last?

Analysts say the carry trade is here for a while, or at least as long as rates remain low and economic data is strong, but not so strong it forces a central bank rethink.

BNP Paribas predicts near-term growth in major economies will be “not too cold, but certainly not hot.

“The tepid economic outlook means we are positive on long carry and short volatility trades,” the bank’s economists wrote last week.

POOR PERFORMANCES

As history shows, the hunt for carry is not without risks.

Should U.S. growth deteriorate, international trade conflicts escalate or the end of the decade-long bull run crystallize, the resulting volatility spike can send “safe” currencies such as the yen, euro and Swiss franc shooting higher, while inflicting losses on riskier emerging markets.

But even in a good carry environment, some high-yield trades may not work. For instance, MSCI’s emerging currency index is up 1.6 percent in 2019 after last year’s 3.8 percent drop, but the gains mask individual poor performances.

Robin Brooks, economist at the Institute for International Finance, notes that since the Federal Reserve’s surprise policy U-turn in January, high-yielders such as South Africa’s rand and Turkey’s lira have actually weakened.

Asian currencies including India’s rupee and the Malaysian Ringgit have gained – a “puzzle” Brooks attributes to expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal rather than investors responding to the Fed’s dovish shift.

(GRAPHIC: Emerging markets currency performance in 2019 png – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cg2cxu)

Investors have also loaded up their carry trade positions already: speculators are $2.3 billion net long in Mexico’s peso against the U.S. dollar, against a neutral stance in January, according to CFTC positioning data.

(GRAPHIC: Speculators long on Mexican peso – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FbJ996)

Amundi’s Koenig said that following the strong recovery in high-yielding currencies in 2019 “the risk is not only in terms of volatility but in underlying levels.

“Carry from here is not my favorite strategy,” he said. “In a late-cycle stage, it’s not very likely that it holds forever.”

(Graphics by Ritvik Carvalho; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Lindsey Graham: Trump's McCain Attacks Hurting Trump

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is coming to the defense of his late friend John McCain in the face of continued attacks by President Donald Trump.

After Trump threw another volley of verbal shots at McCain, a war hero, former POW, and retired Republican senator who died after a battle with brain cancer last August, Graham told reporters Wednesday that Trump's words are doing more damage to himself than McCain.

"I think the president's comments about Sen. McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Sen. McCain. I'm going to try to continue to help the president," Graham said.

"My job is to represent the people of South Carolina. They want me to work with the president where I can. I've gotten to know the president. We have a good working relationship. I like him."

Graham, however, added that he's not happy when Trump takes aim at McCain. The president and the late senator feuded ever since Trump questioned his status as a war hero during the 2016 campaign. Trump is still bitter about McCain's no vote on the Obamacare repeal in 2017, which killed the measure.

"I don't like when he says things about my friend John McCain," Graham said. "The best thing that can happen, I think, for all of us is to move forward."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Netanyahu to name Golan Heights settlement after President Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that he will name a community in the contested Golan Heights region after President Trump.

Since Israel captured the Golan Heights in 1967 by defeating Syria in the Six-Day War, the area had gone unrecognized by major world leaders. But last month, Trump broke tradition and became the first US president to declare the middle-eastern land as Israeli.

“All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” PM Netanyahu said in a statement on his YouTube page Tuesday.

“I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump.”

TRUMP RECOGNITION THAT GOLAN HEIGHTS BELON TO ISRAEL SHOW HIS STRONG SUPPORT OF JEWISH STATE

In an official statement, Trump made the decision to recognize the land after “aggressive acts by Iran and terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, in southern Syria continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks on Isreal.”

Syrian forces condemned the decision by Trump saying: “The decision…makes the United States the main enemy of the Arabs.”

President Trump’s most recent effort to defend Israel against foreign, taking place earlier this month, included the designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. Iran is currently the greatest military threat to Israel.

COEXISTENCE IN A 'DANGER' ZONE: AN INSIDE LOOK AT ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN THE WEST BANK

Netanyahu was re-elected as Prime Minister for a fourth term in the days following Trump’s designation. He tweeted out his gratitude for President Trump’s continued support in securing him the position.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Trump for the tremendous support in Israel, including the recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as well as for his steadfast stand against the Iran regime, which includes the president’s decision yesterday against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” Netanyahu tweeted.

Other Israeli officials have made efforts to thank Trump for his continued support.

In 2017, the Transportation Minister Israel Katz put forth plans to name a train station leading to the West Wall after Trump. The following year, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barket announced a public square in the city would be named after the President.

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“This is the way in which Jerusalem returns love to the president and residents of the United States who stand by the state of Israel,” Barket said in an official event.

Source: Fox News World

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Harvard/Harris Poll: Biden Leads Dem Field of WH Hopefuls

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, a new online poll showed.

In the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll of registered voters released to The Hill on Thursday, 35 percent of Democratic voters are most likely to vote for Biden in the Democratic primaries should he announce his candidacy — more than twice the number of voters who said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was their top pick.

Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke had 7 percent support, followed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with 6 percent, and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., with 5 percent.

In other findings from the online poll:

  • With Hillary Clinton factored into the field, Biden and Sanders still take the top two spots with 26 percent and 18 percent respectively. Clinton took 11 percent.
  • 36 percent of respondents said the current lineup of candidates is "impressive," while 64 percent said the field is "underwhelming."
  • 49 percent said one of the party's candidates would have a "strong chance of winning" against President Donald Trump; 51 percent said they would have "little chance of winning."

"The Democratic horserace remains in flux with no clear leader and awaiting the entry of the so far absent front runner," Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, told The Hill.

"Will he go up if he comes in? He should if he is going to get on track for a win."

Source: NewsMax America

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Vatican opens its own probe in decades-old missing girl case

The Vatican has for the first time opened its own investigation into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983.

The Orlandi family's lawyer, Laura Sgrò, confirmed the probe on Wednesday. She told The Associated Press that "the Secretariat of State has authorized the opening of an investigation into a grave in the Teutonic Cemetery inside the Vatican," after an anonymous tipster indicated that people should look where a statue of an angel in the cemetery is pointing.

The Vatican said on March 27 it was handling a request from the Orlandi family to reopen a tomb indicated by the angel.

Interim Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said on Wednesday that "at the moment, I don't have any statement to make on the issue."

Source: Fox News World

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Detained Venezuelan reporter says he has been beaten while in custody of government agents

A prominent Venezuelan journalist is in the custody of the country’s intelligence agents after he was picked up after leaving work Monday, according to the National Union of Press Workers.

The union reported that Luis Carlos Diaz, a reporter for Unión Radio News in Caracas and activist for internet and press freedom, appeared near his home Tuesday morning in handcuffs while government security agents raided his home.

The union said that they took Diaz’s computers, cell phones, money, and other belongings.

Diaz told journalists and others who were outside his home that he had been arrested and beaten in detention, the union tweeted. He is reportedly being held at the notorious El Helicoide political prison.

AMERICAN JOURNALIST DETAINED BY VENEZUELAN OFFICERS THEN FREED TALKS ABOUT DETENTION

It is the latest high-profile detention of a journalist by Venezuelan authorities, who have intensified a crackdown on the press that became routine during the administration of the late President Hugo Chavez. Human rights groups say the crackdown on both international and Venezuelan journalists has grown worse and bolder in recent weeks under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.

“In Venezuela, the system of censorship and repression is nothing new, but in the last few months we’ve seen a significant crackdown,” Natalie Southwick, who focuses on Central and South America for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Fox News. “We’ve seen high-profile and ongoing harassment and detention, and confiscation of equipment recently.”

UNIVISION ANCHOR JORGE RAMOS REVEALS VENEZUELA'S MADURO BECAME UPSET OVER QUESTIONS ABOUT TORTURE 

Last week, counterintelligence agents detained U.S. journalist Cody Weddle and Venezuelan fixer Carlos Camacho and interrogated them for about 12 hours before releasing Camacho and expelling Weddle.

Maduro’s crusade against the press came into sharp focus recently with the detention of Jorge Ramos, the star anchor of the Spanish-language television network Univision, and his crew.

Venezuelan journalist Luis Carlos Diaz

Venezuelan journalist Luis Carlos Diaz (Twitter)

After having his cell phone confiscated by Maduro’s security agents, Ramos obtained a borrowed phone and described how his tough interview with Maduro landed him in detention for a few hours. Security agents took equipment, including cell phones, from Ramos and his crew.

Daniel Garrido, a reporter for Telemundo, also a U.S.-based Spanish-language television news network, was abducted in Caracas while reporting about Ramos’ detention.

In the last week of January, there were more than a half dozen international journalists detained, usually for short periods, Southwick said.

But dozens of Venezuelan journalists – on the margins of international public awareness -- have been detained and harassed, Southwick noted.

“These cases of Jorge Ramos and international reporters have gotten lots of attention, but it’s worth emphasizing that this kind of harassment and threats are something that Venezuelan journalists face every day doing their work,” she said.

Venezuelan authorities saw Diaz as an irritant.

The Caracas Chronicles, for which Diaz is a contributor, said in an article published Tuesday that the government is trying to accuse the journalist and another reporter, Nelson Bocaranda, of having advance knowledge about the nationwide blackout that hit Thursday and continues, causing problems for Venezuelans, leaving them with little power, water and communications.

The outlet added that Maduro addressed the nation after Diaz went missing on Monday to say that two culprits – without naming them -- with ties to the blackout were in custody.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

CPJ released a statement Tuesday demanding Diaz's release.

"Venezuelan authorities should immediately release Luis Carlos Díaz, return his confiscated equipment, and stop this absurd campaign blaming their own failures on critical journalists," the statement said. "Without electricity, much of the Venezuelan public is already deprived of access to information from TV, radio, and the internet in the midst of an emergency. Harassing and jailing journalists will only exacerbate the crisis."

Source: Fox News World

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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