Swap Agreements Risk—Swap agreements are contracts among the Fund and a
counterparty to exchange the return of the pre-determined underlying investment (such as the rate of return of the underlying index). Swap agreements may be negotiated bilaterally and traded OTC between two parties or, for certain standardized swaps, must be traded on a designated contract market or swap execution facility. 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 (or are expected to change). Changes in interest rates (or the expectation of such changes) can be difficult to forecast and 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 previously issued 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 fiscal, economic, monetary and other policies or measures have in the past, and may in the future, cause or 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.
Investment in Investment Vehicles Risk—The
Fund may seek to gain certain exposure through investments in other investment vehicles. Investing in other investment vehicles, including ETFs and other mutual
funds, subjects the Fund to those risks affecting the investment vehicle, including the possibility that the value of the underlying securities held by the investment vehicle could decrease or the portfolio becomes illiquid. Moreover, the Fund and its shareholders will incur its pro rata share of the underlying vehicles’ expenses, which will reduce the Fund’s