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The Trump administration has moved to locate backup sources of fertilisers for American farmers at the start of the planting season after the Iran war shut down a key source of supply.

“We have been all over the fertiliser problem,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC Tuesday. “I’m not saying that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can minimise it for sure.”

Hassett said the US has “established licenses for Venezuela to produce more fertiliser,” and has held discussions with Morocco, which he said has the world’s largest reserve of potash. The administration has been engaged “as an insurance policy against disruption,” he said.

Bentley Motors Ltd. is planning to cut 275 jobs as the British luxury-car maker grapples with falling sales in China, tepid electric-vehicle demand and US tariffs.

The reductions — roughly 6% of its workforce — will affect office roles rather than manufacturing, the Volkswagen AG-owned company said Tuesday. The number could fall as vacancies are closed and people choosing to leave aren’t replaced, it said.

US markets inched lower early Tuesday (March 17) with a retreat in oil prices to start the week proving to be short-lived. US benchmark crude climbed 3.5% to $96.80 per barrel after dipping to about $93 on Monday, just its second decline since the Iran war began a little more than two weeks ago. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.2% to $103.43 a barrel.

With US benchmark crude on Monday heading to only its second day of declines since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, the S&P 500 climbed 1% for its biggest gain in five weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite finished 1.2% higher.

Markets have moved polar to oil prices, which have spiked almost 40% since the war began. Iran has nearly halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil sails from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

Delta Air Lines traded more than 4% higher after the company raised its first-quarter revenue growth guidance, calling for high single-digit expansion. The airline previously called for growth between 5% and 7%

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