Security Valuation
Each Fund’s investments are valued at fair value each day that the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is open and, for financial reporting purposes, as of the report date should the reporting period end on a day that the NYSE is not open. Fair value is generally defined as the price a fund would receive to sell an asset or pay to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. By its nature, a fair value price is a good faith estimate of the valuation in a current sale and may not reflect an actual market price. The investments of each Fund are valued pursuant to the policy and procedures developed by the Oversight Committee (the “Committee”) and approved by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”). The Committee provides oversight of the valuation of investments for the Funds. The Board has responsibility for overseeing the determination of the fair value of investments.
Valuation techniques used to value each Fund’s investments by major category are as follows:
•Equity investments (including preferred stocks and registered investment companies that are exchange traded (funds) traded on a recognized securities exchange for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the last sale price or official closing price, as applicable, on the primary market or exchange on which they trade. Equity investments traded on a recognized exchange for which there were no sales on that day are valued at the last published sale price or at fair value.
•Investments in registered investment companies (including money market funds) or other unitized pooled investment vehicles that are not traded on an exchange are valued at that day’s published net asset value (“NAV”) per share or unit.
•Exchange-traded futures contracts are valued at the closing settlement price on the primary market on which they are traded most extensively. Exchange-traded futures contracts traded on a recognized exchange for which there were no sales on that day are valued at the last reported sale price obtained from independent pricing services or brokers or at fair value.
In the event prices or quotations are not readily available or that the application of these valuation methods results in a price for an investment that is deemed to be not representative of the fair value of such investment, fair value will be determined in good faith by the Committee, in accordance with the valuation policy and procedures approved by the Board.
A “significant event” is an event that the Board believes, with a reasonably high degree of certainty, has caused the closing market prices of a Fund’s portfolio securities to no longer reflect their value at the time of the Fund’s NAV calculation. Fair value may be determined using an independent fair value service under valuation procedures approved by the Board. The independent fair value service takes into account multiple factors including, but not limited to, movements in the U.S. securities markets, certain depositary receipts, futures contracts and foreign currency exchange rates that have occurred subsequent to the close of foreign securities exchanges. The use of the independent fair value service or alternative fair valuation methods would result in the investments being classified within Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.
The Funds value their assets and liabilities at fair value using a fair value hierarchy consisting of three broad levels that prioritize the inputs to valuation techniques giving the highest priority to readily available unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements) when market prices are not readily available or reliable. The categorization of a value determined for an investment within the hierarchy is based upon the pricing transparency of the investment and is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in it.
The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:
•Level 1 — Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for an identical asset or liability;
•Level 2 — Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability either directly or indirectly, including quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not considered to be active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability (such as exchange rates, financing terms, interest rates, yield curves, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks and default rates) or other market corroborated inputs; and
•Level 3 — Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability, including the Committee’s assumptions used in determining the fair value of investments.
The value of each Fund’s investments according to the fair value hierarchy as of December 31, 2023 is disclosed in each Fund’s respective Schedule of Investments.
Futures Contracts
Each Fund may enter into futures contracts to meet the Funds' objectives. A futures contract is a standardized, exchange-traded agreement to buy or sell a financial instrument at a set price on a future date. Upon entering into a futures contract, a Fund is required to deposit with the broker, cash or securities in an amount equal to the minimum initial margin requirements of the clearing house. Subsequent payments are made or received by a Fund equal to the daily
