Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund.
●European Investments Risk — Many countries are members of the European Union (the “EU”) and all European countries may be significantly affected by EU policies and may be highly dependent on the economies of their fellow members. The European financial markets have experienced significant volatility and several European countries have been adversely affected by unemployment, budget deficits and economic downturns. In addition, several European countries (including the United Kingdom) have experienced credit rating downgrades, rising government debt levels and, for certain European countries (including Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy), weaknesses in sovereign debt. These events, along with decreasing imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, institution of tariffs or other trade barriers, the default or threat of default by a European country on its sovereign debt, an economic recession in a European country, or the threat of a European country to leave the EU may have a significant adverse effect on the affected European country, issuers in the affected European country, the economies of other European countries, or their trading partners. Such events, or even the threat of these events, may cause the value of securities issued by issuers in such European countries to fall, in some cases drastically. These events may also cause further volatility in the European financial markets. To the extent that the Fund’s assets are exposed to investments from issuers in European countries or denominated in euro, their trading partners, or other European countries, these events may negatively impact the performance of the Fund.
On February 24, 2022, Russia commenced a military attack on Ukraine. The military incursion has led to, and may lead to additional sanctions being levied by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and other countries against Russia. Russia’s military incursion and the resulting sanctions and other rapidly evolving measures in response could adversely affect global energy and financial markets and thus could affect the value of the Fund’s investments. The severity, extent and duration of the military conflict, sanctions and resulting market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could have a material adverse effect on the European region and beyond, including significant negative impacts on the economy and the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. How long such tensions and related events will last cannot be predicted. These tensions and any related events could have significant impact on the Fund’s performance and the value of an investment in the Fund.
●Equity and Market Risk — Equity markets are volatile, and the value of equity securities and other instruments correlated with equity markets may fluctuate dramatically from day to
day. Equity markets are subject to corporate, political, regulatory, market, social, geopolitical and economic developments, including changes in interest and currency rates, inflation (or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, debt crises, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory or governmental trade or market control programs, recessions, supply chain disruptions, labor disturbances, environmental or man-made disasters, war, terrorism, public health emergencies (such as the spread of infectious diseases, pandemics and epidemics), social unrest and other unforeseeable events.
●Foreign Investments Risk — Exposure to securities of foreign issuers may provide the Fund with increased risk. Foreign investments may be more susceptible to political, social, economic and regional factors than may be the case with U.S. securities. In addition, markets for foreign investments are usually less liquid, more volatile and significantly smaller than markets for U.S. securities, which may affect, among other things, the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell foreign investments at appropriate times and prices. Because of differences in settlement times and/or foreign market holidays, transactions in a foreign market may take place one or more days after the necessary exposure to these investments is determined.
●Foreign Currency Risk — Investments linked to or denominated in foreign currencies are exposed to additional risk factors versus those investments denominated in U.S. dollars and linked to U.S. investments. The value of an investment linked to or denominated in a foreign currency could change significantly as foreign currencies strengthen or weaken relative to the U.S. dollar.
●Correlation Risk — A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index. Fees, expenses, transaction costs, among other factors, will adversely impact the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. In addition, the Fund’s exposure may not be consistent with the Index. For example, the Fund may not have exposure to all of the securities in the Index, its weighting of securities may be different from that of the Index, and it may invest in instruments not included in the Index.
●Industry Concentration Risk — The Index may have a significant portion of its value in issuers in an industry or group of industries. The Fund will allocate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index. As a result, the Fund may be subject to greater market fluctuations than a fund that is more broadly invested across industries. As of May 31, 2026, the Index had a significant portion of its value in issuers in the health care and industrials industry groups.
