in financial instruments that, in combination, provide exposure consistent with the investment objective, without regard to market conditions, trends or direction. The Fund may also invest in or gain exposure to only a representative sample of the securities in the Index or to securities not contained in the Index or in financial instruments, with the intent of obtaining exposure consistent with the investment objective.
Please see “Investment Objectives, Principal Investment Strategies and Related Risks” in the Fund’s Prospectus for additional details.
You could lose money by investing in the Fund.
●Debt Instrument Risk — Debt instruments are subject to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market and economic developments, as well as developments that affect specific economic sectors, industries or segments of the market. Debt markets can be volatile and the value of instruments correlated with these markets may fluctuate dramatically from day to day.
●Hedging Risk — The Index seeks to mitigate the potential negative impact of rising Treasury interest rates on the performance of investment grade bonds. The short positions in Treasury Securities are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than rising or falling interest rates. There is no guarantee that the short positions will completely eliminate the interest rate risk of the long investment grade bond positions. The hedge cannot fully account for changes in the shape of the Treasury interest rate (yield) curve. Because the duration hedge is reset on a monthly basis, interest rate risk can develop intra-month that is not addressed by the hedge.
When interest rates fall, an unhedged investment in the same investment grade bonds will outperform the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor if investment grade credit deteriorates at the same time that interest rates fall. Furthermore, when interest rates remain unchanged, an investment in the Fund will underperform a long-only investment in the same investment grade bonds due to the ongoing costs associated with short exposure to Treasury securities or other factors.
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.
●Derivatives Risk — Investing in derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks including counterparty risk and correlation risk. The Fund may lose money if its derivatives do not perform as expected and may even lose money if they do perform as expected. Any costs associated with using derivatives will reduce the Fund’s return.
○Futures Risk — Futures prices are affected by many factors, including market conditions, supply and demand for futures contracts, regulatory requirements, margin and collateral requirements, position limits, accountability levels, liquidity, and the availability of counterparties. These factors may increase the cost of obtaining futures exposure, reduce the correlation between futures prices and the performance of the underlying asset, and limit the Fund’s ability to maintain its desired exposure. If the Fund is unable to obtain sufficient exposure to futures contracts, it may not achieve its investment objective and its returns may be lower than expected. In addition, differences between the performance of the underlying asset and its futures contracts, transaction costs, futures rolling costs, and periods of contango or backwardation may cause the Fund to underperform the underlying asset, experience larger losses or smaller gains than a direct investment, and deviate from its intended investment results. Disruptions in the futures markets and limits imposed by exchanges, regulators, or futures commission merchants may further impair the Fund’s ability to achieve its objective and could result in significant losses.
●Counterparty Risk — The Fund may lose money if a counterparty does not meet its contractual obligations. Such losses may be significant. Counterparty defaults or bankruptcies may result in significant delays in payments and increased costs. Counterparty risk may increase during periods of financial market stress or when market liquidity is reduced.
●Credit Risk — Due to its exposure to debt instruments, the Fund will be subject to credit risk which is the risk that an issuer of debt instruments is unwilling or unable to make timely payments to meet its contractual obligations. When credit risk increases, the price of the debt instruments that comprise the Index will typically decrease. Conversely, when credit risk of the debt instruments decreases, the level of the Index will typically increase. By using sampling techniques, the Fund may be overexposed to certain debt instruments that would adversely affect the Fund upon the markets’ perceived view of increased credit risk or upon a downgrade or default of such instruments. During an economic downturn, rates of default tend to increase. The hedging methodology of the Index does not seek to mitigate credit risk.
●Interest Rate Risk — Interest rate risk is the risk that debt instruments or related financial instruments may fluctuate in value due to changes in interest rates. A wide variety of factors can cause interest rates to fluctuate (e.g., central bank monetary policies, fiscal or other government policies, inflation rates, general economic conditions, etc.). Commonly, investments subject to interest rate risk will decrease in value when interest rates rise and increase in value when interest rates decline. A rising interest rate
