The Swiss National Bank Made $55 Billion In Profits Last Year, More Than Apple, JPM And Berkshire

With a total return of over 22%, the S&P 500 shrugged off international and domestic strife, disappearing trading volumes and three Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes to put in its best annual performance since 2013. And while the rising tide lifted all boats – even long-short equity funds returned 10%, if still underperforming the S&P – the Swiss National Bank, essentially one of the world’s biggest government-backed hedge funds (second only to the ECB) with a taste for megacap US tech stocks, had one of its best years in recent memory.