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.
Smaller Company Risk. Investments in smaller companies may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than investments in 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, the share price changes may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of
securities of larger companies, especially over the short term.
Real Estate Securities Risk. The Fund’s investments
in real estate securities, including REITs, are subject to the same risks as direct investments
in real estate and mortgages, and their value will depend on the value of the underlying real estate interests. These risks include default, prepayments, changes in value resulting from changes in interest rates and demand
for real and rental property, and the management skill and credit-worthiness of REIT issuers. The
Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by
each REIT in which it invests in addition to the expenses of the Fund.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including 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.
Industry and Sector Focus Risk. At times, the Fund may increase the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector. The prices of securities of
issuers in a particular industry or sector may be more susceptible to fluctuations due to changes
in economic or business conditions, government regulations, availability of basic resources or supplies, contagion risk within a particular industry or sector or to other industries or sectors, or other events that affect
that industry or sector more than securities of issuers in other industries and sectors. To the
extent that the Fund increases the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector, the value of the Fund’s shares may fluctuate in response to events affecting that industry or sector.
Healthcare Sector Risk. Companies in the healthcare sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by
restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products
and services, pricing pressure (including price discounting), limited product lines and an increased emphasis on the delivery of healthcare through outpatient services. Companies in the healthcare sector are heavily
dependent on obtaining and defending patents, which may be time consuming and costly, and the
expiration of patents may also adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Healthcare
companies are also subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims.
In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in
technologies or other market developments. Many new products in the healthcare sector require
significant research and development and may be subject to regulatory approvals, all of which may
be time consuming and costly with no guarantee that any product will come to market.
Financials Sector Risk. Financial services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation which may limit both the amounts and types of loans and other financial
commitments they can make, the interest rates and fees they can charge, the scope of their
activities, the prices they can charge and the amount of capital they must maintain. Profitability is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates
change or due to increased competition. In addition, deterioration of the credit markets
generally may cause an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets.
Certain events in the financials sector may cause an unusually high degree of volatility in the
financial markets, both domestic and foreign, and cause certain financial services companies to incur large losses. Securities of financial services companies may experience a dramatic decline in value when such companies
experience