Mexican Bureaucrats Outsmart Wall Street Oil Traders: Five Things We Learned This Week

(Bloomberg) -- Every year, through a series of secret deals, a small group of Mexican government officials make the world's largest and best-concealed oil trade. As representatives of one of the world's top oil exporters, “the men from Hacienda” can make smarter bets than hedge funds and Wall Street traders, Bloomberg's Javier Blas reports. Their excellent U.S. connections in banking and politics help them predict the market. The trade's notional value over the last decade has added up to $163 billion. “It's the deal that all banks wait for each year,” says Richard Fullarton, founder of commodity fund Matilda Capital Management. “It's so large that it can make or break their year.”

There's a New World's Best Restaurant

New Yorkers have one more reason to brag. The World's 50 Best — a popular list that's become something of the Oscars of the food world — named Eleven Madison Park the No. 1 restaurant in the world. It's the first time in over a decade that a U.S. restaurant topped the list, which is based on the votes of more than 1,000 chefs, food writers and other experts. European restaurants usually dominate. Richard Vines, Bloomberg's chief restaurant critic, says Eleven Madison Park's food is “highly inventive with exciting flavor combinations” and “fun and very visual.” The restaurant's $295 tasting menu features 11 courses, with dishes such as sea urchin custard with baby squid, bay scallop and apple; and pear poached with honey and acorn.

Two Warnings for America
Two of Wall Street's biggest names are sounding the alarm on the U.S. economy. “It is clear that something is wrong,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon wrote in his annual letter to shareholders. Trillions spent on wars, a hobbled housing market, mounting student debt, failing schools, onerous corporate taxes and regulation — all lead to an understandable anger at institutional leaders, he said. “Something has gone awry in the public's understanding of business and free enterprise,” he said. “We need trust and confidence in our institutions.” On Thursday, BlackRock Inc.'s Larry Fink said growth is slowing because businesses and consumers are concerned about whether the Trump administration can deliver on promises.

Young People Are Killing Marriage
We knew that kids these days have been delaying the big things in life, like getting married and buying a home. But a new study of U.S. Census data reveals exactly how much things have changed. Millennials in the U.S. are more than twice as likely today to never have been married as Baby Boomers at the same age in 1980, Bloomberg's Ben Steverman reports. That year, two-thirds of Americans between ages 25 and 34 had already been married at least once. 

Not Everything Donald Trump Touches Turns to Gold
A red Ferrari once owned by Trump went up for auction—but almost didn't sell. A private buyer picked up the 2007 F430 F1 Coupe for $270,000 after it failed to meet the reserve in an auction that was expected to bring in as much as $350,000. The commander-in-chief bought the Ferrari new in 2007 and put 2,400 miles on the car before selling it in 2011 to the second owner, who put it on the block last weekend. Other Trump cars commanded a premium. Maybe if Trump had still owned it the price would have been higher, Bloomberg's Hannah Elliott reports.

To contact the author of this story: Lisa Fleisher in London at lfleisher2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Timothy Coulter at tcoulter@bloomberg.net.