Equity Securities Risk Although stocks may have the potential to outperform other asset classes over the long term, their prices tend to fluctuate more dramatically over the shorter term. These movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, or from broader influences like changes in interest rates, market conditions, or investor confidence, or announcements of economic, political, or financial information.
Foreign Investment Risk; Emerging Markets Risk; Currency Risk Investments in securities of foreign issuers, securities of companies with significant foreign exposure, and foreign currencies can involve additional risks relating to market, industry, political, regulatory, public health, and other conditions. Political, social, diplomatic, and economic developments, U.S. and foreign government action, or threat thereof, such as the imposition of currency or capital blockages, controls, or tariffs, economic and trade sanctions or embargoes, security trading suspensions, entering or exiting trade or other intergovernmental agreements, or the expropriation or nationalization of assets in a particular country, can cause dramatic declines in certain or all securities with exposure to that country and other countries. Sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, may cause volatility in regional and global markets and may negatively impact the performance of various sectors and industries, as well as companies in other countries, which could have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund. In the event of nationalization, expropriation, confiscation, or other government action, intervention, or restriction, the Fund could lose its entire investment in a particular foreign issuer or country. There may be quotas or other limits on the ability of the Fund (or clients of the Fund's investment adviser or subadviser) to invest or maintain investments in securities of issuers in certain countries. Enforcing legal rights can be more difficult, costly, and limited in certain foreign countries and with respect to certain types of investments, and can be particularly difficult against foreign governments. Because non-U.S. securities are normally denominated and traded in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the value of the Fund's assets may be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in currency exchange rates, exchange control regulations, and restrictions or prohibitions on the repatriation of non-U.S. currencies. Income and gains with respect to investments in certain countries may be subject to withholding and other taxes. There may be less information publicly available about a non-U.S.
company than about a U.S. company, and many non-U.S. companies are not subject to accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards, regulatory framework and practices comparable to those in the U.S. The securities of some non-U.S. companies, especially those in emerging markets, are less liquid and at times more volatile than securities of comparable U.S. companies. Emerging markets securities are subject to greater risks than securities issued in developed foreign markets, including less liquidity, less stringent investor protection and disclosure standards, less reliable settlement practices, greater price volatility, higher relative rates of inflation, greater political, economic, and social instability, greater custody and operational risks, greater risk of new or inconsistent government treatment of or restrictions on issuers and instruments, and greater volatility in currency exchange rates, and are more susceptible to environmental problems. Many emerging market countries are highly reliant on international trade and exports, including the export of commodities. Their economies may be significantly impacted by fluctuations in commodity prices and the global demand for certain commodities. In addition, pandemics and outbreaks of contagious diseases may exacerbate pre-existing problems in emerging market countries with less established health care systems. Frontier markets, a subset of emerging markets, generally have smaller economies and less mature capital markets than emerging markets. As a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries. Frontier markets are more susceptible to having abrupt changes in currency values, less mature markets and settlement practices, and lower trading volumes that could lead to greater price volatility and illiquidity. Non-U.S. transaction costs, such as brokerage commissions and custody costs, may be higher than in the United States. In addition, foreign markets can react differently to market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, public health, and other conditions than the U.S. market.
Large Company Risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the Fund's investments in large-capitalization stocks to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies.
Cash Position Risk If the Fund holds a significant portion of its assets in cash or cash equivalents,