A. Valuation of Investments— Investments are valued in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and the Fund's valuation policies set forth by, and under the supervision and responsibility of, the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”), which established the following approach to valuation, as described more fully below: (i) investments for which market quotations are readily available shall be valued at their market value and (ii) all other investments for which market quotations are not readily available shall be valued at their fair value as determined in good faith by the Board.
Under Section 2(a)(41) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Board is required to determine fair value for securities that do not have readily available market quotations. Under SEC Rule 2a-5 (Good Faith Determinations of Fair Value), the Board may designate the performance of these fair valuation determinations to a valuation designee. The Board has designated the Adviser as the “Valuation Designee” to perform fair valuation determinations for the Fund on behalf of the Board subject to appropriate oversight by the Board. The Adviser, as Valuation Designee, leverages the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Americas Valuation Committee (“AVC”) to help oversee and carry out the policies for the valuation of investments held in the Fund. The Adviser, as Valuation Designee, remains responsible for the valuation determinations.
This oversight by the AVC includes monitoring the appropriateness of fair values based on results of ongoing valuation oversight including, but not limited to, consideration of macro or security specific events, market events, and pricing vendor and broker due diligence. The Administrator is responsible for discussing and assessing the potential impacts to the fair values on an ongoing basis, and, at least on a quarterly basis, with the AVC and the Board.
Equities and other exchange-traded instruments are valued at the last sale price or official market closing price on the primary exchange on which the instrument is traded before the net asset values (“NAV”) of the Fund are calculated on a valuation date.
Investments in open-end investment companies (“Underlying Funds”) are valued at each Underlying Fund’s NAV per share as of the report date.
Futures contracts are generally valued on the basis of available market quotations.
Valuations reflected in this report are as of the report date. As a result, changes in valuation due to market events and/or issuer-related events after the report date and prior to issuance of the report are not reflected herein.
The various inputs that are used in determining the valuation of the Fund's investments are summarized into the three broad levels listed below.
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Level 1 — Unadjusted inputs using quoted prices in active markets for identical investments.
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Level 2 — Other significant observable inputs including, but not limited to, quoted prices for similar investments, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for investments (such as interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) or other market corroborated inputs.
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Level 3 — Significant inputs based on the best information available in the circumstances, to the extent observable inputs are not available (including the Fund's assumptions in determining the fair value of investments).
A financial instrument’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input, both individually and in the aggregate, that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs or methodology used for valuing instruments are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those instruments.
The following table represents each valuation input as presented on the Schedule of Portfolio Investments (“SOI”):
| | | | |
| | Level 2
Other significant
observable inputs | Level 3
Significant
unobservable inputs | |
Total Investments in Securities (a) | | | | |
Appreciation in Other Financial Instruments | | | | |
| | | | |
|
| Please refer to the SOI for specifics of portfolio holdings. |
B. Investment Transactions with Affiliates— The Fund invested in Underlying Funds advised by the Adviser. An issuer which is under common control with the Fund may be considered an affiliate. The Fund assumes the issuers listed in the table below to be affiliated issuers.
