Active Management
Risk
As an actively managed portfolio, the value of the Fund’s
investments could decline because the financial condition of an issuer may change (due to such factors as management performance, reduced demand or overall market
changes), financial markets may fluctuate or overall prices may decline, or the Advisor’s investment techniques could fail to achieve the Fund’s investment objective or negatively affect the Fund’s investment performance.
As a “non-diversified” investment company, the Fund can invest in fewer individual companies than a diversified investment company. As a result, the Fund is more susceptible to any single political, regulatory or economic occurrence and to the financial condition of individual issuers in which it invests. The Fund’s relative lack of diversity may subject investors to greater risk of loss than a fund that has a diversified portfolio.
Market Disruption and Geopolitical Risk
Geopolitical events, such as war (including ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), terrorist attacks, natural or environmental disasters (including hurricanes, wildfires and flooding), country instability, public health emergencies (including epidemics and pandemics), market instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers and other governmental trade or market control programs, the potential exit of a country from its respective union and related geopolitical events, have led and may in the future lead to market volatility and may have long-lasting impacts on U.S. and global economies and financial markets. Supply chain disruptions or significant changes in the supply or prices of commodities or other economic inputs may have material and unexpected effects on both global securities markets and individual countries, regions, sectors, companies or industries. Events occurring in one region of the world may negatively impact industries and regions that are not otherwise directly impacted by the events. Additionally, those events, as well as other changes in foreign and domestic political and economic conditions, could adversely affect individual issuers or related groups of issuers, securities markets, interest rates, secondary trading, credit ratings, inflation, investor sentiment and other factors affecting the value of the Fund’s investments.
Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine significantly amplified already existing geopolitical tensions. The United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russia, Russian individuals and entities and Belarus. The extent and duration of the military action, sanctions imposed and other punitive actions taken (including any Russian retaliatory responses to such sanctions and actions), and resulting disruptions in Europe and globally cannot be predicted, but could be significant and have a severe adverse effect on the global economy, securities markets and commodities markets globally, including through global supply chain disruptions, increased inflationary pressures and reduced economic activity.
Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East could have similar negative impacts. The
possibility of a prolonged conflict and the potential expansion of the conflict in the surrounding areas and the involvement of other nations in such conflict could
further destabilize the Middle East region and introduce new uncertainties in global markets, including the oil and natural gas markets.
Systemic risk events in the financial sectors and/or resulting government actions can negatively impact investments held by the Fund. For example, issues with certain regional U.S. banks and other financial institutions in March 2023 raised economic concerns over disruption in the U.S. banking system. These risks also may adversely affect financial intermediaries, such as clearing agencies, clearing houses, banks, securities firms, and exchanges, with which the Fund interacts. There can be no certainty that any actions taken by the U.S. government to strengthen public confidence in the U.S. banking system or financial markets will be effective in mitigating the effects of financial institution failures on the economy and restoring or maintaining public confidence. In addition, raising the U.S. Government debt ceiling has become increasingly politicized. Any failure to increase the total amount that the U.S. Government is authorized to borrow could lead to a default on U.S. Government obligations. A default or a threat of default by the U.S. Government would be highly disruptive to the U.S. and global securities markets and could significantly reduce the value of the Fund’s investments.
The strengthening or weakening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies
may, among other things, adversely affect the Fund’s investments denominated in non-U.S. dollar currencies. It is difficult to predict when similar events affecting
the U.S. or global financial markets may occur, the effects that such events may have, and the duration of those effects.
The rapid development and increasingly widespread use and regulation of
artificial intelligence including machine learning technology and generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT (collectively, “AI Technologies”), may
pose risks to the Fund. For instance, the rapid advanced development of AI Technologies and efforts to regulate or control its use and advancement may have significant positive or negative impacts on a wide range of different industries and the global economy. It is not possible to predict which companies, sectors, or economies may benefit or be disadvantaged by such developments, or is it possible to determine the full extent of current or future risks related thereto.