Principal Risks of the Fund |
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it
cannot guarantee it will do so. An investment in the Fund
is not a bank account or a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other
government agency. The Fund’s
sponsor is not required to reimburse the Fund for losses, and you should not expect that the sponsor will provide financial support to the Fund at any time,
including during periods of market stress. The Fund should
not be relied upon as a complete investment program. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fund's principal risks are presented below in alphabetical order,
and not in the order of importance or potential
exposure.
Credit/Default
Risk. An issuer or guarantor of a security held by the Fund, or a bank or other financial institution that has entered into a repurchase agreement with the Fund,
may default on its obligation to pay interest and repay principal or default on any other obligation. Additionally, the credit quality of securities and counterparties may deteriorate rapidly, which may
impair the Fund’s liquidity and cause significant deterioration in NAV.
Interest Rate Risk. When interest rates increase, the Fund’s yield will tend to be lower than prevailing market rates, and the market value of its investments will generally
decline. The Fund may face a heightened level of interest rate risk in connection with the type and extent of certain monetary policy changes made by the Federal Reserve, such as target interest rate changes.
Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on the markets, may result in heightened market volatility and may detract from Fund performance. A low interest rate environment poses additional risks
to the Fund, because low yields on the Fund’s portfolio holdings may have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to provide a positive yield to its shareholders, pay expenses out of current income, or, at times,
maintain a stable $1.00 share price and/or achieve its investment objective. Fluctuations in interest rates may also affect the liquidity of the Fund’s investments. A sudden or unpredictable increase in interest
rates may cause volatility in the market and may decrease the liquidity of the Fund's investments, which would make it harder for the Fund to sell its investments at an advantageous time.
Large Shareholder Transactions Risk. The Fund may experience adverse effects when certain large shareholders purchase or redeem large amounts of shares of the Fund.
Such large shareholder redemptions, which may occur rapidly or unexpectedly, may cause the
Fund to sell portfolio securities at times when it would not otherwise do so, which may
negatively impact the Fund's NAV and liquidity. Similarly, large Fund share purchases may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash or otherwise maintains a larger
cash position than it ordinarily would. These transactions may also accelerate the realization of taxable income to shareholders if such sales of investments resulted in gains, and may also increase transaction costs.
In addition, a large redemption could result in the Fund's current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, leading to an increase in the Fund's expense ratio.
Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or that may become less liquid in response to market developments or adverse investor perceptions. Illiquid
investments may be more difficult to value. The liquidity of portfolio securities can deteriorate rapidly due to credit events affecting issuers or guarantors, such as a credit rating downgrade, or due to general market
conditions or a lack of willing buyers. An inability to sell one or more portfolio positions, or selling such positions at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable
conditions, can adversely affect the Fund’s ability to maintain a stable $1.00 share price. Liquidity risk may also refer to the risk that the Fund will not be able to pay
redemption proceeds within the allowable time period because of unusual market conditions, declining prices of the securities sold, an unusually high volume of redemption requests, or other reasons. Liquidity risk may be
the result of, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed income securities or the lack of an active market. The potential for liquidity risk
may be magnified by a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where investor
redemptions from money market and other fixed income mutual funds may be higher than normal,
potentially causing increased supply in the market due to selling activity.
Market Risk. The value of the securities in which the Fund invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of
governments or countries and/or general economic conditions throughout the world due to
increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. Events such as war,
military conflict, geopolitical disputes, acts of terrorism, social or political unrest, natural disasters, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade,
sanctions or the spread of infectious illness or other public health threats, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could also significantly impact the Fund and its investments.
Stable NAV Risk. The Fund may not be able to maintain a stable $1.00 share price at all times. If any money market fund
that intends to maintain a stable NAV fails to do so (or if there is a perceived threat of
such a failure), other such money market funds, including the Fund, could be subject to
increased redemption activity, which could adversely affect the Fund’s NAV. Shareholders of the Fund should not rely on or expect the Investment Adviser or an affiliate to purchase distressed assets from the Fund, make capital
infusions into the Fund, enter into capital support agreements with the Fund or take other actions to help the Fund maintain a stable $1.00 share price.
U.S. Government Securities Risk. The U.S. government may not provide financial support to U.S. government agencies, instrumentalities
or sponsored enterprises if it is not obligated to do so by law. Certain U.S. Government
securities, including securities issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) and the Federal Home Loan Banks, are neither issued nor
guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury and, therefore, are not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The maximum potential liability of the issuers of some U.S. Government securities held by the Fund may
greatly exceed their current resources, including any legal right to support from the U.S.
Treasury. It is possible that issuers of U.S. Government securities will not have the funds
to meet their payment obligations in the future.