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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.
Consumer Goods Sector Risk. Companies engaged in the manufacture and distribution of consumer goods are subject to vast fluctuations in supply and demand. These companies may also be adversely affected by changes in consumer spending as a result of world events, political and economic conditions, commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, imposition of import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources and labor relations. Companies in this sector are subject to government regulation affecting the permissibility of using various food additives and production methods, which regulations could affect company profitability. Tobacco companies may be adversely affected by the adoption of proposed legislation and/or by litigation. Also, the success of food and soft drink may be strongly affected by fads, marketing campaigns and other factors affecting supply and demand.
Industrial Materials Sector Risk. The companies in the industrial materials sector can be significantly affected by the level and volatility of commodity prices, the exchange value of the dollar, import controls, worldwide competition, liability for environmental damage, depletion of resources, and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control. The stock prices of companies in the industrial materials sector are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrial materials sector products in general. Government regulation, world events and economic conditions may affect the performance of companies in the industrial materials sector. Companies in the industrial materials sector may be at risk for product liability claims.
Energy Sector Risk. The profitability of companies in the energy sector is related to worldwide energy prices, exploration, and production spending. Such companies also are subject to risks of changes in exchange rates, government regulation, world events, depletion of resources and economic conditions, as well as market, economic and political risks of the countries where energy companies are located or do business. Oil and gas exploration and production can be significantly affected by natural disasters. Companies in the energy sector may be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, government regulation, world events, and economic conditions. Oil exploration and production companies may be at risk for environmental damage claims.
Utilities Sector Risk. The rates that traditional regulated utility companies may charge their customers generally are subject to review and limitation by governmental regulatory commissions. Although rate changes of a utility usually fluctuate in approximate correlation with financing costs due to political and regulatory factors, rate changes ordinarily occur only following a delay after the changes in financing costs. This factor will tend to favorably affect a regulated utility company’s earnings and dividends in times of decreasing costs, but conversely, will tend to adversely affect earnings and dividends when costs are rising. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Certain utility companies have experienced full or partial deregulation in recent years. These utility companies are frequently more similar to industrial companies in that they are subject to greater competition and have been permitted by regulators to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business. These opportunities may permit certain utility companies to earn more than their traditional regulated rates of return. Some companies, however, may be forced to defend their core business and may be less profitable.
Among the risks that may affect utility companies are the following: risks of increases in fuel and other operating costs; the high cost of borrowing to finance capital construction during inflationary periods; restrictions on operations and increased costs and delays associated with compliance with environmental and nuclear safety regulations; and the difficulties involved in obtaining natural gas for resale or fuel for generating electricity at reasonable prices. Other risks include those related to the construction and operation of nuclear power plants; the effects of energy conservation and the effects of regulatory changes.
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. Since the Index constituents may vary on a quarterly basis, the Fund’s costs associated with rebalancing may be greater than those incurred by other exchange-traded funds that track indices whose composition changes less frequently.
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.
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.
License Agreement Term Risk. The Investment Adviser’s license agreement with the Index Provider to use the Index has a five-year term, and is renewable thereafter on an annual basis. There can be no assurance that the license agreement will be renewed or extended at the end of that term, or that the Investment Adviser will be able to enter into another agreement with the Index Provider to use the Index. If no agreement is entered into at the end of the five-year term, the Investment Adviser may be required to obtain a replacement Index Provider on behalf of the Fund.
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 individual ETF listing, the same way as are 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 during normal trading hours. The Fund issues and redeems shares at NAV only in large blocks of 150,000 shares (each block of 150,000 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.
Morningstar Manufacturing Super Sector Index is a service mark of Morningstar, Inc. (“Licensor”) and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by Claymore Advisors LLC (“Licensee”). The Claymore/Morningstar Manufacturing Super Sector Index ETF, is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Morningstar, and Morningstar makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Claymore/Morningstar Manufacturing Super Sector Index ETF.
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