Recent market events risk includes risks arising from current and recent circumstances impacting markets. Both U.S. and international markets have experienced significant volatility in recent months and years. As a result of such volatility, investment returns may fluctuate significantly.

National economies are substantially interconnected, as are global financial markets, which creates the possibility that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact issuers in a different country or region. However, the interconnectedness of economies and/or markets may be changing, which may impact such economies and markets in ways that cannot be foreseen at this time.

Some countries, including the U.S., have adopted more protectionist trade policies, including trade tariffs and other trade barriers, which is a trend that appears to be continuing globally. Slowing global economic growth, the rise in protectionist trade policies, inflationary pressures, changes to some major international trade and security agreements, risks associated with trade and security agreements between countries and regions, including the U.S. and other foreign nations, political or economic dysfunction within some countries or regions, including the U.S., and dramatic changes in consumer sentiment, commodity prices and currency values could affect the economies and markets of many nations, including the U.S., in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time and may create significant market volatility. In addition, these policies, including the impact on the U.S. dollar, may change foreign demand for U.S. assets in ways that cannot be foreseen, which could have a negative impact on certain issuers and/or industries.

The Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have started to lower interest rates, though economic or other factors, such as inflation, could stop such changes. It is difficult to accurately predict the pace at which interest rates might change, the timing, frequency or magnitude of any such changes in interest rates, or when such changes might stop or again reverse course.

Additionally, various economic and political factors could cause the Federal Reserve or another foreign central bank to change their approach in the future and such actions may result in an economic slowdown in the U.S. and abroad. Unexpected changes in interest rates could lead to significant market volatility or reduce liquidity in certain sectors of the market.

Deteriorating economic fundamentals may, in turn, increase the risk of default or insolvency of particular issuers, negatively impact market value, cause credit spreads to widen, and reduce bank balance sheets. Any of these could cause an increase in market volatility, reduce liquidity across various markets or decrease confidence in the markets.

Tensions, war, or open conflict between nations, such as among the United States, Israel and Iran, between Russia and Ukraine, otherwise in the Middle East or in eastern Asia could affect the economies of many nations, including the United States and may contribute to increased volatility

and uncertainty in the financial markets. The extent and duration of ongoing hostilities and any sanctions and the repercussions of such events cannot be predicted. Those events have presented and could continue to present material uncertainty and risk with respect to markets globally, including in the oil and gas markets and potentially other industries and sectors, and the performance of the fund and its investments or operations could be negatively impacted.

Regulators in the U.S. have adopted a number of changes to regulations involving the markets and issuers, some of which apply to the fund. The full effect of such regulations is not currently known and certain changes to regulations could limit the fund’s ability to pursue its investment strategies or make certain investments, or may make it more costly for the fund to operate, which may impact performance. Additionally, it is possible that such regulations could be further revised or rescinded, which creates material uncertainty regarding their impact to the fund.

Advancements in technology, including advanced development and increased regulation of artificial intelligence, may adversely impact market movements and liquidity. As artificial intelligence is used more widely, which can occur rapidly, the profitability and growth of certain issuers and industries may be negatively impacted in ways that cannot be foreseen and could adversely impact its performance.

High public debt in the U.S. and other countries creates ongoing systemic and market risks and policymaking uncertainty. There is no assurance that the U.S. Congress will act to raise the nation’s debt ceiling; a failure to do so could cause market turmoil and substantial investment risks that cannot now be fully predicted. Unexpected political, regulatory and diplomatic events within the U.S. and abroad may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy.

Global climate change can have potential effects on property and security values. Certain issuers, industries and regions may be adversely affected by the impacts of climate change in ways that cannot be foreseen. The impact of legislation, regulation and international accords related to climate change, including any direct or indirect consequences, may negatively impact certain issuers, industries and regions;

Authorized participants concentration risk. The fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as authorized participants (i.e., large institutions that have entered into agreements with the distributor of the fund’s shares and are authorized to transact in Creation Units (described below) with the fund) (“Authorized Participants”). Only an Authorized Participant may transact in Creation Units directly with the fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. To the extent they exit the business or are otherwise unable to proceed in creation and redemption transactions with the fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem shares, then shares of the fund may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs that invest in securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes;

Cash transactions risk. Like other ETFs, the fund sells and redeems its shares primarily in large blocks called “Creation Units” and only to Authorized Participants. To the extent that the fund effects its creations and redemptions partially or fully for cash, rather than in-kind securities, an investment in the fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in other ETFs, because the fund may recognize a capital gain that it could have avoided by making redemptions in-kind. As a result, the fund would in such a scenario pay out higher capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. Further, paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities would require the fund to dispose of or sell portfolio investments to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds, which may occur at an inopportune time;

Premium/discount risk. There may be times when the market price of the fund’s shares is more than its NAV (at a premium) or less than its NAV (at a discount). As a result, shareholders of the fund may pay more than NAV when purchasing shares and receive less than NAV when selling fund shares. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. In such market conditions, market or stop loss orders to sell fund shares may be executed at prices well below NAV;

Secondary market trading risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the secondary market will normally pay brokerage commissions, which are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors buying or selling relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, such investors may incur the cost of the “spread” also known as the bid-ask spread, which is the difference between what investors are willing to pay for fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell fund shares (the “ask” price). The bid-ask spread varies over time based on, among other things, trading volume, market liquidity and market volatility. Due to the fund’s active trading strategy, it may be more difficult for market participants making a market in the fund’s shares to hedge their exposure to fund shares, which may lead to wider bid-ask spreads.

Trading in fund shares may be halted by the Exchange (as defined below) because of market conditions or other reasons. If a trading halt occurs, a shareholder may temporarily be unable to purchase or sell shares of the fund. In addition, although the fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for shares will develop or be maintained or that the fund’s shares will continue to be listed;

Information technology sector risk is the risk that products of information technology companies may face rapid product obsolescence due to technological developments and frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. These companies may be smaller or newer and may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. Failure to introduce new products, develop and maintain a loyal customer base or achieve general market acceptance for their products could have a material adverse effect on a company’s business. Companies in the information technology sector also may be subject to increased government scrutiny or adverse government regulatory action. Additionally, companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on intellectual property and the loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. The

market prices of information technology-related securities tend to exhibit a greater degree of interest rate risk and market risk and may experience sharper price fluctuations than other types of securities. These securities may fall in and out of favor with investors rapidly, which may cause sudden selling and dramatically lower market prices;