identifies it as a company that invests or
deals with countries that the U.S. government identifies as state sponsors of terrorism or
subjects to sanctions.
Geographic Focus Risk. The Fund may focus its investments in one or more regions or small groups of countries. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be subject to greater volatility than a more geographically diversified
fund.
Equity Market Risk. The price of equity securities may rise or fall because of changes in the broad market or changes in a
company’s financial condition, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. These price movements
may result from factors affecting individual companies, sectors or industries selected for the
Fund’s portfolio or the securities market as a whole, such as changes in economic or
political conditions. When the value of the Fund’s securities goes down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value.
General Market Risk. Economies and financial markets throughout the world are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the likelihood that events or
conditions in one country or region will adversely impact markets or issuers in other countries
or regions. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to securities in general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes due to a number of factors, including inflation
(or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), interest rates,
global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, trade wars, retaliatory trade measures, sanctions and other trade barriers,
supply chain disruptions, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs
and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters
or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics or the threat or
potential of one or more such factors and occurrences.
Large Cap Company Risk. Because the Fund invests in large cap company securities, it may underperform other funds during periods when the Fund’s large cap securities
are out of favor.
Smaller Company Risk. Investments in securities of smaller companies (mid cap and small cap companies) may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than securities of
larger, more established companies. The securities of smaller companies may trade less frequently
and in smaller volumes than securities of larger companies. As a result, changes in the price of securities issued by such companies may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of securities of larger companies,
especially over the short term. These risks are higher for small cap companies.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including options and
futures contracts, may be riskier than other types of investments and may increase the volatility
of the Fund. Derivatives may be sensitive to changes in economic and market conditions and may
create leverage, which could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund’s original investment. The Fund may be more volatile than if the Fund had not been leveraged because the leverage tends to exaggerate any
effect on the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities. Certain derivatives expose the Fund
to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations
(and includes credit risk associated with
the counterparty). Certain derivatives are synthetic instruments that attempt to replicate the
performance of certain reference assets. With regard to such derivatives, the Fund does not have a claim on the reference assets and is subject to enhanced counterparty risk. Derivatives may not perform as expected, so
the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging, the change in value of a
derivative may not correlate as expected with the security or other risk being hedged. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives expose the Fund to risks of mispricing or improper valuation. Derivatives also
can expose the Fund to derivative liquidity risk, which includes risks involving the liquidity
demands that derivatives can create to make payments of margin, collateral, or settlement payments to counterparties, legal risk, which includes the risk of loss resulting from insufficient or unenforceable contractual
documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of the Fund’s counterparty and operational
risk, which includes documentation or settlement issues, system failures, inadequate controls and
human error. Certain of the Fund’s transactions in foreign currency derivatives and other
derivatives could also affect the amount, timing and character of distributions to shareholders
which may result in the Fund realizing more ordinary income and short-term capital gain subject
to tax at ordinary income tax rates than it would if it did not engage in such transactions, which may adversely impact the Fund’s after-tax returns.
Currency Risk. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates will affect the value of the Fund’s securities and may affect the price of the Fund’s Shares.
Generally, when the value of the U.S. dollar rises in value relative to a foreign currency, an investment impacted by that currency loses value because that currency is worth less in U.S. dollars. Currency exchange
rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including
changes in interest rates. Devaluation of a currency by a country’s government or banking authority also will have a significant impact on the value of any investments denominated in that currency. Currency markets
generally are not as regulated as securities markets, may be riskier than other types of
investments and may increase the volatility of the Fund. Although the Fund may attempt to hedge some or all of its currency exposure into the U.S. dollar, it may not be successful in reducing the effects of currency
fluctuations. The Fund may also hedge from one foreign currency to another. In addition, the
Fund’s use of currency hedging may not be successful, including due to delays in placing trades and other operational limitations, and the use of such strategies may lower the Fund’s potential returns.
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. Since the Fund is non-diversified, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer or group of issuers than a diversified fund would. This increased investment in fewer issuers may
result in the Fund’s Shares being more sensitive to economic results of those issuing the
securities. The value of the Fund’s Shares may also be more volatile than the value of a fund which invests in more securities.
Industry Concentration Risk. The Fund will not invest more than 25% of the value of its total assets in the securities of companies conducting their principal business activities in the same industry, except that, to the extent that
an industry represents 20% or more of the Fund’s Index at the time of investment, the Fund
may invest up to 35% of its total assets in that industry. Concentrating Fund investments in companies