Rare Earths and Critical Materials Companies Risk. The Fund is sensitive to, and its performance depends to a greater extent on, the overall condition of rare earths and critical materials companies. Rare earths and critical materials are industrial metals that are typically mined as by-products or secondary metals in operations focused on precious metals and base metals. Compared to base metals, they have more specialized uses. Rare earths metals (or rare earths elements) are a collection of chemical elements that are crucial to many of the world’s most advanced technologies. Consequently, the demand for rare earths and critical materials has strained supply, which has the potential to result in a shortage of such materials which could adversely affect the companies in the Fund’s portfolio. Companies involved in the various activities that are related to the mining, production, recycling, mineral sands, processing and/or refining of rare earths and critical materials tend to be small-, medium- and micro-capitalization companies with volatile share prices, are highly dependent on the price of rare earths and critical materials, which may fluctuate substantially over short periods of time. The value of such companies may be significantly affected by events relating to international, national and local political and economic developments, energy conservation efforts, the success of exploration projects, commodity prices, tax and other government regulations, depletion of resources, and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control devices. The mining, production, recycling, processing and/or refining of rare earths and critical metals can be capital intensive and, if companies involved in such activities are not managed well, the share prices of such companies could decline even as prices for the underlying rare earths and critical metals are rising. In addition, companies involved in the various activities that are related to the mining, production, recycling, processing and/or refining of rare earths and critical metals may be at risk for environmental damage claims.

Commodity Risk. The Fund invests in companies that are susceptible to fluctuations in certain commodity markets and to price changes due to trade relations. Any negative changes in commodity markets that may be due to changes in supply and demand for commodities, market events, regulatory developments, other catastrophic events, or other factors that the Fund cannot control could have an adverse impact on those companies.

Concentration Risk. The Fund seeks to track the Index, which itself is currently concentrated in the rare earths industry. Underperformance or increased risk in such concentrated areas may result in underperformance or increased risk in the Fund.

Cybersecurity and Disaster Recovery Risks. Information and technology systems relied upon by the Fund, the Adviser, the Fund’s other service providers (including, but not limited to, the Sub-Adviser, Fund Accountant, Custodian, Transfer Agent, Administrator and the Distributor (“Service Providers”)), market makers, Authorized Participants, financial intermediaries and/or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from computer viruses, network failures, computer and telecommunication failures, infiltration by unauthorized persons, security breaches, usage errors, power outages and catastrophic events such as fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. Although the Adviser and the Fund’s other service providers have implemented measures to manage risks relating to these types of events, if these systems are compromised, become inoperable for extended periods of time or cease to function properly, significant investment may be required to fix or replace them. The failure of these systems and/or of disaster recovery plans could cause significant interruptions in the operations of the Fund, the Adviser, Service Providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, financial intermediaries and/or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests and may result in a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data, impact the Fund’s ability to calculate its net asset value or impede trading.

Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments. In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.

Ex-China Investment Risk. The exclusion of Chinese Securities, as determined by the Index provider and defined above, in the Index and therefore the Fund, may cause the Fund to invest more heavily in stocks from other emerging markets. This may increase the Fund’s weighting in fewer markets. As a result, the Fund is more likely to be impacted by events or conditions affecting those markets. Moreover, the Index provider’s criteria may differ from other assessments as to what it means to be a Chinese Security. Additionally, while the Index does not include Chinese Securities, the Index, and therefore the Fund, may have significant exposure to countries that could be materially impacted by China.

Foreign Investment Risk. The Fund’s investments in non-U.S. issuers, although limited to ADRs, may involve unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. 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. Countries with emerging markets may present heightened 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, inflation rates or adverse news and events. Where all or a portion of the Fund’s underlying securities trade in a market that is closed when the market in which the Fund’s shares are listed and trading in that market is open, there may be changes between the last quote from its closed foreign market and the value of such security during the Fund’s domestic trading day. In addition, please note that this in turn could lead to differences between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares.

Geographic Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies of a single country or region, it is more likely to be impacted by events or conditions affecting that country or region.

Australia. Investments in Australian issuers may subject the Fund to economic risk specific to Australia. Among other things, there are legal, regulatory, political, currency and economic risk specific to Australia. The Australian economy is heavily dependent on relationships with certain key trading partners, including China, Japan and the United States. As a result, continued growth of the Australian economy is dependent on the growth of these economies.

Canada. Investments in Canadian issuers may subject the Fund to economic risk specific to Canada. Among other things, the Canadian economy is heavily dependent on relationships with certain key trading partners, including the United States and China. The Canadian economy is sensitive to fluctuations in certain commodity markets.

Index Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Index for a number of reasons, including operating expenses incurred by the Fund not applicable to the Index, costs in buying and selling securities, asset valuation differences and differences between the Fund’s portfolio and the Index resulting from legal restrictions, cash flows or operational inefficiencies. To the extent the Fund utilizes a sampling approach, it may experience tracking error to a greater extent than if the Fund sought to replicate the Index.

Issuer-Specific Risk. 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.

Market Risk and Selection Risk. Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both domestic and global financial markets. Such events also may have an impact on the Fund and its investments, including the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities and potential elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money.

New Fund Risk. A new or smaller fund is subject to the risk that its performance may not represent how the fund is expected to or may perform in the long term. In addition, new funds have limited operating histories for investors to evaluate and new and smaller funds may not attract sufficient assets to achieve investment and trading efficiencies. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve an economically viable size. Further, an active trading market for shares of the Fund may not develop or be maintained.

Operational Risk. The Fund and its service providers may experience disruptions that arise from human error, processing and communications errors, counterparty or third-party errors, technology or systems failures, any of which may have an adverse impact on the Fund.

Sector Focus Risk. The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in one or more sectors and thus will be more susceptible to the risks affecting those sectors.

Basic Materials Sector Risk. Companies engaged in the production and distribution of basic materials may be adversely affected by changes in world events, political and economic conditions, energy conservation, environmental policies, commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, imposition of import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources and labor relations.

Mining Sector Risk. The exploration and development of mineral deposits involve significant financial risks over a significant period of time, which even a combination of careful evaluation, experience and knowledge may not eliminate. Few properties which are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines. Major expenditures may be required to establish reserves by drilling and to construct mining and processing facilities at a site. In addition, mineral exploration companies typically operate at a loss and are dependent on securing equity and/or debt financing, which might be more difficult to secure for an exploration company than for a more established counterpart.

Small- and Mid-Capitalization Company Risk. Smaller and mid-size companies often have narrower markets, less liquidity, more limited managerial and financial resources and a less diversified product offering than larger, more established companies. As a result, their performance can be more volatile, which may increase the volatility of the Fund’s portfolio.