inflation), deflation (or expectations for
deflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, market
instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In
addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence
of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
Equity Market Risk. The price of equity securities may rise or fall because of changes in the broad market or changes in a company’s financial condition, sometimes rapidly
or unpredictably. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies,
sectors or industries selected for the Fund’s portfolio or the securities market as a whole, such as changes in economic or political conditions. When the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities goes
down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value.
Foreign Securities and Emerging Markets Risk. Investments in foreign issuers and foreign securities (including depositary receipts) are subject to additional risks,
including political and economic risks, unstable governments, civil conflicts and war, greater
volatility, decreased market liquidity, expropriation and nationalization risks, sanctions or other measures by the United States or other governments, currency fluctuations, higher transaction costs, delayed settlement,
possible foreign controls on investment, and less stringent investor protection and disclosure
standards of foreign markets. In certain markets where securities and other instruments are not traded “delivery versus payment,” the Fund may not receive timely payment for securities or other instruments it has
delivered or receive delivery of securities paid for and may be subject to increased risk that
the counterparty will fail to make payments or delivery when due or default completely. Foreign market trading hours, clearance and settlement procedures, and holiday schedules may limit the Fund’s ability to buy and sell
securities.
Events and evolving conditions in certain economies or
markets may alter the risks associated with investments tied to countries or regions that
historically were perceived as comparatively stable becoming riskier and more volatile. These risks are magnified in “emerging markets.” Emerging market countries typically have less established market
economies than developed countries and may face greater social, economic, regulatory and
political uncertainties. In addition, emerging markets typically present greater illiquidity and price volatility concerns due to smaller or limited local capital markets and greater difficulty in determining market
valuations of securities due to limited public information on issuers. Certain emerging market
countries may be subject to less stringent requirements regarding accounting, auditing, financial reporting and record keeping and therefore, material information related to an investment may not be available or reliable.
Additionally, the Fund may have substantial difficulties exercising its legal rights or enforcing
a counterparty’s legal obligations in certain jurisdictions outside of the United States, in particular in emerging markets countries, which can increase the risks of loss.
Strategy Risk. The Fund’s investment strategies may not always provide greater market protection than other equity instruments particularly in rising equity markets when the
Fund is expected to underperform traditional long-only equity strate
gies. In addition, as a result of the
structure of the options overlay strategy, the Fund is not expected to provide market protection
during times of low market volatility; during such periods, the Fund is expected to perform in line with broad equity markets.
Options Risk. The value of the Fund’s positions in Index options or options on ETFs will fluctuate in response to changes in the value of the underlying index. Writing index
call options or options on ETFs can reduce equity market risk, but it limits the opportunity to
profit from an increase in the market value of stocks in exchange for upfront cash at the time of selling the call option. The Fund also risks losing all or part of the cash paid for purchasing put options. Unusual market
conditions or the lack of a ready market for any particular option at a specific time may reduce
the effectiveness of the Fund’s option strategies, and for these and other reasons, the Fund’s option strategies may not reduce the Fund’s volatility to the extent desired and could result in losses.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including options and futures, may be riskier than other types of investments and may increase
the volatility of the Fund. Derivatives may be sensitive to changes in economic and market
conditions and may create leverage, which could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund’s original investment. Certain derivatives also expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the
derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations (and includes credit risk
associated with the counterparty). Certain derivatives are synthetic instruments that attempt to replicate the performance of certain reference assets. With regard to such derivatives, the Fund does not have a claim
on the reference assets and is subject to enhanced counterparty risk. Derivatives may not perform
as expected, so the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging, the change
in value of a derivative may not correlate as expected with the security or other risk being hedged. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives may expose the Fund to risks of mispricing or improper valuation. Derivatives
also can expose the Fund to derivative liquidity risk, which includes the risks involving the
liquidity demands that derivatives can create to make payments of margin, collateral or settlement payments to counterparties, legal risk, which includes the risk of loss resulting from insufficient or unenforceable
contractual documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of the Fund’s counterparty
and operational risk, which includes documentation or settlement issues, system failures, inadequate controls and human error.
Geographic Focus Risk. The Fund may focus its investments in one or more regions or small groups of countries. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be subject to
greater volatility than a more geographically diversified fund.
European Market Risk. The Fund’s performance will
be affected by political, social and economic conditions in the various countries in which it
invests in Europe and in Europe more generally, such as growth of the economic output (the gross
national product), the rate of inflation, the rate at which capital is reinvested into European
economies, the success of governmental actions to reduce budget deficits, the resource
self-sufficiency of European countries and interest and monetary exchange rates between European
countries. European financial markets may experience volatility due to concerns about high
government debt levels, credit rating