Target announced on Thursday it will open its 2,000th store this month in North Carolina as part of an expansion that will include dozens more stores opening this year.

The milestone 2,000th location will open in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, on March 15. It will be Target’s 55th store in North Carolina. The new 148,000-square-foot store, located near Raleigh, will include a CVS Pharmacy, Starbucks Cafe and Disney Shop inside.

The company said this location “represents the future of Target’s elevated guest experience with its open, easily navigable layout, convenient same-day services and winning team delivering a more relaxed and enjoyable shopping visit.”

TARGET BETS BIG ON UPGRADES, BEAUTY PUSH TO WIN BACK SHOPPERS: ‘NOT AN EVERYTHING STORE’

Target also plans to open 30 new stores this year and 300 by 2035 in what the company described as a new chapter in its strategy to drive long-term, sustainable growth by investing in stores.

In addition to the new store in North Carolina, other new Target stores are set to open this month in Bakersfield and Delano, California; Springfield, Missouri; Jersey City and West Orange, New Jersey; and Dallas, Texas.

“Guests tell us all the time they want a Target closer to home, and this investment helps us do exactly that,” Adrienne Costanzo, chief stores officer at Target said in a press release. “That means even more neighborhoods will get the full Target experience: trend-forward style and value, technology that makes the trip effortless and awesome teams who deliver easy, inspiring and friendly moments every single day.”

The company said there is a Target store within 10 miles of most doorsteps across the U.S.

Target has listed more than 40 additional communities across 25 states that will eventually have a new store open. Based on the future store openings Target has already confirmed, the states that will have the most new stores are Florida, North Carolina and Texas.

It also said there would be more than 130 remodels on top of the store openings. Next-day delivery will also launch in more than 20 new metro areas, which the company said reaches 60% of the U.S. population.

TARGET CUTS 500 JOBS, INVESTS MORE MONEY IN STORE STAFFING

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The retailer said it is “making a commitment to the neighborhoods it calls home.”

“Every time we open a new Target store, we’re planting roots in that community,” Costanzo said. “That means in addition to delivering a better shopping experience that’s faster and more reliable, we’re creating growth and opportunity — through good jobs, support for local nonprofits and long-term economic investment in the neighborhoods we serve. When our teams and communities thrive, so do we.”

Market Overview

Inflation trends lower, for now

Inflation, as measured by the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), continued easing during the fourth quarter. However, the government shutdown caused disruptions in the data collection process that may have called its reliability

ET Intelligence Group: A sharp rise in crude oil prices is set to dent the March-quarter profit margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs) as higher feedstock costs compress refining margins, soften fuel-price spreads and widen LPG under-recoveries. Brent crude has jumped nearly 16% so far in calendar 2026 rising from about $71 per barrel at the start of January to $82.3 per barrel as of March 05. While upstream companies including ONGC and Oil India benefit from rising crude prices, the extent of gains will depend upon the government policies related to windfall taxing and subsidy allocations.

Rising crude oil prices compress the gross refining margins (GRM) of OMCs because retail prices of petroleum products such as diesel and petrol do not adjust immediately. GRM is the difference between prices of crude oil and petroleum products.

“For every $1 per barrel rise in crude price, OMCs’ auto-fuel gross marketing margin declines by ‘0.55 per litre (assuming no change in retail petrol, diesel price and excise duty on petrol and diesel) and drags down their consolidated Ebitda (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) by 7-9%,” said JM Financial Institutional Securities in a report adding that OMCs typically earn a gross marketing margin of about ‘3.5- 4 per litre on petrol and diesel when Brent is around $70 per barrel.

Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities expects integrated margins, which include refining, fuel marketing and LPG under-recoveries, to decline by around $3-4 per barrel at the current crude oil prices for IOCL, HPCL and BPCL compared with the previous quarter.
Higher crude prices also worsen LPG under-recoveries, which eat into OMC profits. Nomura highlights that LPG under-recoveries have more than doubled to ’69 per cylinder in the March quarter till date from ’33 per cylinder in the previous quarter. Since LPG prices are subsidised, any increase in crude oil costs pushes OMCs’ LPG under-recoveries higher.

Upstream companies including ONGC and Oil India, which benefit directly from rising crude prices, are likely to see stronger earnings on the back of higher realisations. ONGC and Oil India would be key beneficiaries if Brent crude sustains above $70 per barrel, as every $1 rise in oil prices boosts their earnings by 1.5-2%, said JM Financial Institutional Securities. Spot LNG prices have more than doubled to $25 per mmbtu (Million British Thermal Units) after QatarGas announced a shutdown in LNG production on March 02. This is likely to affect gas utilities such as GAIL, Petronet LNG, Gujarat Gas and other city gas distributors since both volumes and margins are likely to come under pressure.

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Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (LCTX) Q4 2025 Earnings Call March 5, 2026 4:30 PM EST

Company Participants

Ioana Hone – Director of Investor Relations
Brian Culley – CEO, President & Director
Jill Howe – CFO & Principal Financial and Accounting Officer

Conference Call Participants

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Joseph Pantginis – H.C. Wainwright & Co, LLC, Research Division
Jack Allen – Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division
Mayank Mamtani – B. Riley Securities, Inc., Research Division
Gum-Ming Lowe – Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, Research Division
Yang Chen – Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division

Presentation

Operator

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Welcome to the Lineage Cell Therapeutics Third (sic) [ Fourth ] Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] An audio webcast of this call is available on the Investors section of Lineage’s website at www.lineagecell.com. This call is subject to copyright and is the property of Lineage. And recordings, reproductions or transmission of this call without the expressed written consent of Lineage are strictly prohibited. As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce your host for today’s call, Ioana Hone, Head of Investor Relations at Lineage. Ms. Hone, please go ahead.

Ioana Hone
Director of Investor Relations

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Thank you, Jamie. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. A press release reporting our fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results was issued earlier today, March 5, 2026, and can be found on the Investors section of our website.

Please note that today’s remarks and responses to your questions reflect management’s views as of today only and will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Statements made during this discussion that are not statements of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The company’s actual results or performance may differ materially from the expectations indicated by

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The U.S. dollar held broadly steady in early Asian trade on Friday and was poised for its steepest weekly gain in more than a year as the escalating conflict in the Middle East drove demand for safe-haven assets.

The euro and yen remained on the back foot as the crisis drove oil prices ever higher, spurring inflation risks in economies dependent on energy imports and upending expectations for policy by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

Earlier hopes of a de-escalation gave way to fresh uncertainty, with Iran warning that Washington would “bitterly regret” the sinking of an Iranian warship. U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to ‌be involved in choosing ⁠Iran’s next ⁠head of state after U.S. and Israeli air strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the early moments of the war.

“If the Middle Eastern conflict continues at its current intensity, it’s likely to bring sustained higher inflation, a stronger U.S. dollar, and a vastly reduced chance of Fed rate cuts,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore wrote in a note.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was trading a touch lower by 0.06% at 99.00, still on course for a 1.4% gain this week that would be the most since November 2024.

The euro was little changed at $1.1612, while the yen tacked on 0.06% to 157.5 per dollar. Sterling was almost steady, up just 0.04% at $1.3361.
The war escalated on Thursday, with ⁠U.S. and ‌Israeli jets hitting areas across Iran and Gulf cities coming under renewed bombardment. In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the late supreme leader who has been considered a favorite to succeed his father, was an unlikely ⁠choice.

The greenback was one of a handful of winners in a volatile few sessions that have dragged stocks, bonds and, at times, even safe-haven precious metals lower.

The spike in energy prices from the Middle East war has stoked fears of a resurgence in inflation, with overnight index swaps (OIS) showing shifts in rate outlooks for major central banks.

Traders have pushed back the time frame for the next easing by the Fed to either September or October, according to LSEG estimates. Rate-easing expectations from the Bank of England have also been pared back, while money markets increased bets on European Central Bank rate hikes as early as this year.

“The fears of what happened to inflation when the Russia-Ukraine war began and what we saw post-pandemic with supply shocks, that’s still sort of front ‌of mind,” Skye Masters, head of markets research at National Australia Bank, said on a podcast. “You see that repricing in OIS curves, and you are seeing some meaningful repricing in bond markets as well.”

With the war in focus, currency investors shrugged off Thursday’s economic data.

The number of Americans filing new applications ⁠for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, while layoffs dropped sharply in February, consistent with stable labor market conditions.

The market is now focused on Friday’s employment report. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 59,000 jobs last month after accelerating by 130,000 in January, a Reuters survey of economists predicted. The unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.3%.

TD Securities head of FX strategy Jayati Bharadwaj said she sees room for short‑term adjustment in long dollar positioning given the current risk‑off tone. But she expects the Iran conflict to remain contained, especially in a U.S. midterm election year.

“(The) U.S. dollar upside should persist only while risk premia remain elevated in crude oil, potentially echoing the price action seen in June 2025 until a regime shift happens in Iran with U.S. backing,” Bharadwaj said in a note.

The Australian dollar strengthened 0.16% versus the greenback to $0.7017. The kiwi rose 0.15% to $0.5903.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 0.26% to $70,956.52, and ether declined 0.27% to $2,074.84.