Seeing the future in the swirl of a coffee cup

STARBUCKS, which has ambitious plans for the Irish market, has replaced its chief executive Jim Donald with its group founder and chairman Howard Schultz and said it would slow an aggressive US expansion.

The move marks a return to daily management for Mr Schultz, seen by many as the conscience of the company.

It has been a dramatic few months for the group and its fall from grace is a mirror of what is happening in general to the US economy where rising inflation and falling growth are becoming a distinct possibility for 2008.