Market Trading Risk is the risk that the Fund faces because its shares are listed on a securities exchange, including
the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in
secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. ANY OF THESE FACTORS MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR
DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Trading in Fund shares may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of
its listing exchange, make trading in the shares inadvisable. The market price of Fund
shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in its NAV, changes in the relative supply of, and demand for, Fund shares, and changes in the liquidity or perceived liquidity, of the Fund’s
holdings.
Credit (or Default)
Risk is the risk that the inability or unwillingness of an issuer or guarantor of a
fixed-income security, or a counterparty to a TBA, repurchase or other transaction, to
meet its payment or other financial obligations will adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments and its returns. The credit quality of a debt security or of the issuer of a debt security held by
the Fund could deteriorate rapidly, which may impair the Fund's liquidity or cause a
deterioration in the Fund's NAV. The Fund could also be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. The degree of credit risk depends on the
issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of the
securities.
Debt Extension Risk is the risk that when interest rates rise an issuer will exercise its right to pay principal on certain debt securities held by the Fund later
than expected. This will cause the value of the security, and the Fund’s NAV, to
decrease, and the Fund may lose opportunities to invest in higher yielding
securities.
Derivatives Risk is the risk that derivatives may pose risks in addition to and greater than those associated with
investing directly in securities, currencies and other instruments, may be illiquid or
less liquid, more volatile, more difficult to value and leveraged so that small changes in the value of the underlying instrument may produce disproportionate losses to the Fund. Derivatives are
also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party to the
transaction will not perform its contractual obligations. The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with investments in
more traditional securities and instruments.
•Futures Contracts Risk is the risk that there will be imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the Fund’s securities and the
price of futures contracts, which may result in the strategy not working as intended;
the possible inability of the Fund to sell or close out a futures contract at the desired time or price; losses due to unanticipated market movements, which potentially are unlimited; and the possible
inability of NTI to correctly predict the direction of securities’ prices,
interest rates, currency exchange rates and other economic factors, which may make the Fund’s returns more volatile or increase the risk of loss.
•Swap Contracts Risk Swap contracts involve the risk that the counterparty with whom the Fund has entered into the agreement will default on its obligation to pay the Fund. While certain swaps are subject
to mandatory central clearing, which is intended to reduce counterparty risk, these
swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or
become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs.
Sector Risk is the risk that companies in similar businesses may be similarly affected by particular
economic or market events, which may, in certain circumstances, cause the value of
securities of all companies in a particular sector of the market to decrease.
Hedging Risk is the risk that the Fund’s
short positions in U.S. Treasury futures and transactions in interest rate swaps will
not completely eliminate interest rate risk of long positions in bonds. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of interest rates on the performance of bonds by entering into short positions in
U.S. Treasury futures or transact in interest rate swaps. The Fund’s short
positions in U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate
credit spread risk or other factors influencing the price of bonds, which may have a
greater impact than interest rates. In addition, when interest rates fall, long-only
bond investments will perform better than the Fund’s investments. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund’s hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger
losses in the short U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps positions as compared
to gains in the long bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no
guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising
Treasury interest rates in which the Fund’s short positions might be expected to
mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into short positions.