Security Valuation
The 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 the 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 Fund. The Board has responsibility for overseeing the determination of the fair value of investments.
Valuation techniques used to value the Fund’s investments by major category are as follows:
•Equity investments 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.
•Government and municipal fixed income securities are generally valued using quotations from independent pricing services or brokers. Certain government inflation-indexed securities may require a calculated fair valuation as the cumulative inflation is contained within the price provided by the pricing service or broker. For these securities, the inflation component of the price is “cleaned” from the pricing service or broker price utilizing the published inflation factors in order to ensure proper accrual of income.
•Debt obligations (including short term investments and convertible debt securities) are valued using quotations from independent pricing services or brokers or are generally valued at the last reported evaluated prices.
•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.
•Swap agreements are valued daily based upon prices supplied by Board approved pricing vendors or through brokers. Depending on the product and terms of the transaction, the value of agreements is determined using a series of techniques including valuation models that incorporate a number of market data factors, such as discounted cash flows, yields, curves, trades and values of the underlying reference instruments. In the event SSGA Funds Management, Inc. (the “Adviser” or “SSGA FM”) is unable to obtain an independent, third-party valuation the agreements will be fair valued.
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.
The Fund values its 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 the Fund’s investments according to the fair value hierarchy as of September 30, 2024 is disclosed in the Fund’s Schedule of Investments.