RISKS AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Investors should consider the following risk factors and special considerations associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause you to lose money.
Investment Risk. An investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount that you invest.
Equity Risk. A principal risk of investing in the Fund is equity risk, which is the risk that the value of the securities held by the Fund will fall due to general market and economic conditions, perceptions regarding the industries in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund participate, or factors relating to specific companies in which the Fund invests. For example, an adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value of equity securities of an issuer held by the Fund; the price of common stock of an issuer may be particularly sensitive to general movements in the stock market; or a drop in the stock market may depress the price of most or all of the common stocks and other equity securities held by the Fund. In addition, common stock of an issuer in the Fund’s portfolio may decline in price if the issuer fails to make anticipated dividend payments because, among other reasons, the issuer of the security experiences a decline in its financial condition. Common stock is subordinated to preferred stocks, bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure, in terms of priority to corporate income, and therefore will be subject to greater dividend risk than preferred stocks or debt instruments of such issuers. In addition, while broad market measures of common stocks have historically generated higher average returns than fixed income securities, common stocks have also experienced significantly more volatility in those returns.
Foreign Investment Risk. The Fund’s investments in non-U.S. issuers may involve unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers, including, among others, greater market volatility than U.S. securities and less complete financial information than for U.S. issuers. In addition, adverse political, economic or social developments could undermine the value of the Fund’s investments or prevent the Fund from realizing the full value of its investments. Financial reporting standards for companies based in foreign markets differ from those in the United States. Finally, the value of the currency of the country in which the Fund has invested could decline relative to the value of the U.S. dollar, which may affect the value of the investment to U.S. investors. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities.
Emerging market countries are countries that major international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, generally consider to be less economically mature than developed nations. Emerging market countries can include every nation in the world except the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most countries located in Western Europe. Investing in foreign countries, particularly emerging market countries, entails the risk that news and events unique to a country or region will affect those markets and their issuers. Countries with emerging markets may have relatively unstable governments, may present the risks of nationalization of businesses, restrictions on foreign ownership and prohibitions on the repatriation of assets. The economies of emerging markets countries also may be based on only a few industries, making them more vulnerable to changes in local or global trade conditions and more sensitive to debt burdens or inflation rates. Local securities markets may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to increases in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible at times.
China Investment Risk. Investing in securities of Chinese companies involves additional risks, including, but not limited to: the economy of China differs, often unfavorably, from the U.S. economy in such respects as structure, general development, government involvement, wealth distribution, rate of inflation, growth rate, allocation of resources and capital reinvestment, among others; the central government has historically exercised substantial control over virtually every sector of the Chinese economy through administrative regulation and/or state ownership; and actions of the Chinese central and local government authorities continue to have a substantial effect on economic conditions in China. In addition, previously the Chinese government has from time to time taken actions that influence the prices at which certain goods may be sold, encourage companies to invest or concentrate in particular industries, induce mergers between companies in certain industries and induce private companies to publicly offer their securities to increase or continue the rate of economic growth, control the rate of inflation or otherwise regulate economic expansion. It may do so in the future as well, potentially having a significant adverse effect on economic conditions in China, the economic prospects for, and the market prices and liquidity of, the securities of China companies and the payments of dividends and interest by China companies.
From time to time, certain of the companies comprising the Index that are located in China may operate in, or have dealings with, countries subject to sanctions or embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations and/or in countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. One or more of these companies may be subject to constraints under U.S. law or regulations which could negatively affect the company’s performance, and/or could suffer damage to its reputation if it is identified as a company which invests or deals with countries which are identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism or subject to sanctions. As an investor in such companies, the Fund is indirectly subject to those risks.
Real Estate Investment Risk. The Fund invests in companies in the real estate industry, including REITs. Therefore, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with investing in real estate, which may include, but are not limited to, possible declines in the value of real estate, adverse changes in national, state or local real estate conditions; obsolescence of properties; changes in the availability, cost and terms of mortgage funds (including changes in interest rates), the impact of changes in environmental laws, overbuilding in a real estate company’s market, and environmental problems.
In addition, a REIT that fails to comply with federal tax requirements affecting REITs may be subject to federal income taxation, or the federal tax requirement that a REIT distribute substantially all of its net income to its shareholders may result in a REIT having insufficient capital for future expenditures. The value of a REIT can depend on the structure of and cash flow generated by the REIT. In addition, like mutual funds, REITs have expenses, including advisory and administration fees, that are paid their shareholders. As a result, you will absorb duplicate levels of fees when the Fund invests in REITs. In addition, REITs are subject to certain provisions under federal tax law. The failure of a company to qualify as a REIT could have adverse consequences for the Fund, including significantly reducing return to the Fund on its investment in such company.
Small and Medium-Sized Company Risk. Investing in securities of small and medium-sized companies involves greater risk than is customarily associated with investing in more established companies. These companies’ stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than those of more established companies. These stocks may have returns that vary, sometimes significantly, from the overall stock market.
Micro-Cap Company Risk. Micro-cap stocks involve substantially greater risks of loss and price fluctuations because their earnings and revenues tend to be less predictable (and some companies may be experiencing significant losses), and their share prices tend to be more volatile and their markets less liquid than companies with larger market capitalizations. Micro-cap companies may be newly formed or in the early stages of development, with limited product lines, markets or financial resources and may lack management depth. In addition, there may be less public information available about these companies. The shares of micro-cap companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger, more established companies, which can adversely affect the pricing of these securities and the future ability to sell these securities. Also, it may take a long time before the Fund realizes a gain, if any, on an investment in a micro-cap company.
Non-Correlation Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. The Fund may not be fully invested at times, either as a result of cash flows into the Fund or reserves of cash held by the Fund to meet redemptions and expenses. If the Fund utilizes a sampling approach or futures or other derivative positions, its return may not correlate as well with the return on the Index, as would be the case if it purchased all of the stocks in the Index with the same weightings as the Index.
Replication Management Risk. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell a stock because the stock’s issuer was in financial trouble unless that stock is removed from the Index. Issuer-Specific Changes. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single investment could cause greater fluctuations in share price than would occur in a diversified fund.
Claymore ETFs are listed on the NYSE Arca, depending on the ETF listing, the same way as shares of a publicly-traded company. Claymore ETFs can be purchased through most brokerage accounts. They can be bought and sold throughout the day on the NYSE Arca, depending on the ETF listing, during normal trading hours. The Fund issues and redeems shares at NAV only in large blocks of 80,000 shares (each block of 80,000 shares is called a “Creation Unit”) or multiples thereof. Only broker-dealers or large institutional investors with creation and redemption agreements, called Authorized Participants (“APs”), can purchase or redeem these Creation Units.
Investors buying or selling ETF shares on the secondary market may incur brokerage costs and other transactional fees. Shares of ETFs may fluctuate in price due to daily changes in trading volume. At times, shares may not have a high volume of trading. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, Shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.
The Fund and its Shares are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by AlphaShares, Inc. (“Licensor”) and its affiliates. Licensor makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the shareholders of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Index to track general stock market performance. The Licensor’s only relationship to Claymore Advisors, LLC (“Licensee”) is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of AlphaShares and of the Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by Licensor without regard to Licensee or the Fund. Licensor has no obligation to take the needs of the Licensee or the shareholders of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. Licensor shall not be liable to any person for any error in the Index nor shall it be under any obligation to advise any person of any error therein.
Dow Jones, its affiliates, sources and distribution agents (together, the “Indicative Value Calculation Agent”) shall not be liable to the Investment Adviser, any customer or any third party for any loss or damage, direct, indirect or consequential, arising from (i) any inaccuracy or incompleteness in, or delays, interruptions, errors or omissions in the delivery of the intraday indicative value with respect to the Fund (the “Indicative Value”) or any data related thereto (the “Data”) or (ii) any decision made or action taken by the Investment Adviser, any customer or third party in reliance upon the Data. The Indicative Value Calculation Agent does not make any warranties, express or implied, to the Investment Adviser, any investor in the Fund or any one else regarding the Data, including without limitation, any warranties with respect to the timeliness, sequence, accuracy, completeness, currentness, merchantability, quality or fitness for a particular purpose or any warranties as to the results to be obtained by the Investment Adviser, any investors in the Fund or other person in connection with the use of the Data. The Indicative Value Calculation Agent shall not be liable to the Investment Adviser, any investor in the Fund or other third parties for any damages, including, without limitation, loss of business revenues, lost profits or any indirect, consequential, special or similar damages whatsoever, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.