standardized swaps, must be exchange-traded through a futures commission merchant and/or cleared
through a clearinghouse that serves as a central counterparty. Risks associated with the use of swap agreements are different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions, due in part to the fact they could be considered illiquid and many swaps trade on the OTC market. Swaps are particularly subject to counterparty credit, correlation, valuation, liquidity and leveraging risks. While exchange trading and central clearing are intended to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, they do not make swap transactions risk-free. Additionally, applicable regulators have adopted rules imposing certain margin requirements, including minimums, on OTC swaps, which may result in the Fund and its counterparties posting higher margin amounts for OTC swaps, which could increase the cost of swap transactions to the Fund and impose added operational complexity.
Early Closing Risk—The Fund is subject to the risk that unanticipated early
closings of securities exchanges and other financial markets may result in the Fund’s inability to buy or sell securities or other financial instruments on
that day and may cause the Fund to incur substantial trading losses.
Equity Securities Risk—Equity securities
include common stocks and other equity and equity-related securities (and securities convertible into stocks). The prices of equity securities generally fluctuate
more than those of fixed-income investments, may rise or fall rapidly or unpredictably, and may reflect real or perceived changes in the issuing company’s financial condition and changes in the overall market or economy. A decline in the value of equity securities held by the Fund will adversely affect the value of your investment in the Fund. Common stocks generally represent the riskiest investment in a company and dividend payments (if declared) to preferred stockholders generally rank junior to payments due to a company’s debtholders. The Fund may lose a substantial part, or even all, of its investment in a company’s stock.
Industry Concentration Risk—The Fund may concentrate its investments in a
limited number of issuers conducting business in the same industry or group of related industries. To the extent the Fund does so, the Fund is more vulnerable to adverse market, economic, regulatory, political or other developments affecting that industry or group of related industries than a fund that invests its assets more broadly. The industries in which the underlying index components, and thus the Fund's assets, may be concentrated will vary as the composition of the underlying index changes over time.
Interest Rate Risk—Fixed income and other debt instruments are subject to the
possibility that interest rates could change. Changes in interest rates may adversely affect the Fund’s investments in these instruments, such as the
value or liquidity of, and income generated by, the investments. Interest rates may change as a result of a variety of factors, and the change may be sudden and significant, with unpredictable impacts on the financial markets and the Fund’s investments. Fixed income and other debt instruments with longer durations are more sensitive to changes in interest rates and, thus, subject to more volatility than similar instruments with shorter durations. Generally, when interest rates increase, the values of fixed income and other debt instruments decline and when interest rates decrease, the values of fixed income and other debt instruments rise. During periods of rising interest rates, changes in interest rates on adjustable rate securities may lag behind changes in market rates, which may cause the value of such securities to decline until their interest rates reset to market rates. During periods of declining interest rates, because the interest rates on adjustable rate securities generally reset downward, their market value is unlikely to rise to the same extent as the value of comparable fixed rate securities. The Fund’s yield, returns, and performance may be adversely affected by changing interest rates and the Fund’s NAV per share may be more volatile during changing interest rate environments. Changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. Changes in interest rates may also lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may result in high portfolio turnover costs and lower valuations, thereby adversely affecting the Fund’s performance.
Large-Capitalization Securities Risk—The Fund is subject to the risk that large-capitalization securities may underperform other
segments of the equity market or the equity market as a whole. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges
such as changes in technology and may not be able to attain the high growth rate of smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
Liquidity and Valuation Risk—It may be difficult for the Fund to purchase and
sell particular investments to meet redemption requests or otherwise within a reasonable time at a fair price, or the price at which it has been valued by the Advisor for purposes of the Fund’s NAV, causing the Fund to be less liquid and unable to realize what the Advisor believes should be the price of the investment. Valuation of portfolio investments may be difficult, such as during periods of market turmoil or reduced liquidity, and for investments that may, for example, trade infrequently or