CEO Howard Schultz spent more than year planning the chains merchandise and drinks and it seems to have paid off. Starbucks profit went up 10% on holiday’s sales as consumers soaked up the holiday specialty drinks.

The resulting sales drove up net income per share from 45 cents a share to 50 cents, beating the average estimate of 49 cents. Helping to drive the stores sales were their instant coffee, keurig brand single serve coffees and the low-calorie peppermint mocha. They ended their first quarter on a high note, stating that it was their most successful holiday season to date.

Ending this quarter on a high note, the store is planning on rolling out their product line which will bring happy hour to Starbucks. The store plans on introduction beer and wine to their stores after a successful experiment in six locations tried to increase traffic during the afternoon and evenings. The stores also paired the new drinks with a new menu that included fruit and cheese plates as well as focaccia with olive oil.

Starbucks was also making news today for being more expensive in Canada then the United States due to the higher-raw ingredient costs especially milk.

Starbucks ended the day up 1.19% at $47.48.

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Banks across the EU took part in securing 489 billion Euros in loans from the European Central Banks first ever offering of a three year funding. The money will be used to avoid a credit crunch in the EU and to buy Italian and Spanish debt.  523 banks participated in the offering, which well allow the EU banks to keep lending so to avoid hampering economic growth and spreading the debt crisis further.

This was the biggest ECB infusion of credit in the 13 years of the  Euro. There was great excitement over the  additional 189 billion euros lent over the estimated 300 billion euros the market was expecting, mainly because it highlighted the needs of the European banks.

The Bank of England policy makers have left the option open for more cash to be available to the economy in February due to the risk of another recession from slower consumer spending and the euro crisis.

The news leave the possibility for a third round of quantitative easing which could happen in February. The European crisis, is also expected to create a third round in the United States as well as in Japan and the other banks in the European Union

It is wildly regarded that the second round of quantitative easing failed to solve the economic problems.

In other news, Rim turned down offers from Amazon and Microsoft to buy their struggling company.  Rim staff have reported that they prefer to fix their problems on their own.  Rim is up 10.54% on the news.

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