Visit blackrock.com, iShares.com or contact your financial professional for a prospectus or summary prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.
Diversification and asset allocation strategies do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market. Investing in long/short strategies presents the opportunity for significant losses including in some cases, losses which exceed the principal amount invested. There is also the possibility that long and short strategies could both fail, thereby increasing volatility and potential losses.
In addition to the normal risks associated with investing, international investments may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuation in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles, or from economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging markets involve heightened risks related to the same factors, as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. The two main risks related to fixed income investing are interest rate risk and credit risk. Typically, when interest rates rise, there is a corresponding decline in the market value of bonds. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of the bond will not be able to make principal and interest payments. A portion of a municipal bond fund's income may be subject to federal or state income taxes or the alternative minimum tax. Investments in commodities may entail significant risks and can be significantly affected by events such as variations in the commodities markets, weather, disease, embargoes, international, political and economic developments, the success of exploration projects, tax and other government regulations, as well as other factors.
Transactions in shares of ETFs will result in brokerage commissions and will generate tax consequences. Mutual funds and ETFs are obliged to distribute portfolio gains to shareholders at year's end. This material is not intended to be tax advice. The tax consequences of dividend distributions may vary by individual taxpayer. Please consult your tax professional or financial advisor for more information with regard to your specific situation.
The BlackRock mutual funds and iShares Funds are distributed by BlackRock Investments, LLC, member Finra. The iShares Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, issued, sold or promoted by Dow Jones Trademark Holdings, LLC, Markit Indices Limited, Morningstar, Inc., MSCI Inc., Russell Investment Group, or Standard & Poor's, nor are they sponsored, endorsed or issued by Barclays Capital Inc. None of these companies make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Fund. BlackRock is not affiliated with the companies listed above.
The iShares Gold Trust and iShares Silver Trust (each a “Trust” and, together, the “Trusts”) are not standard ETFs. The Trusts are not investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or a commodity pool for purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act. Shares of the Trusts are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as mutual funds. Because shares of the Trusts are intended to reflect the price of the gold or silver (“metals”) held by each Trust, respectively, the market price of the shares is subject to fluctuations similar to those affecting metals prices. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risk factors and other information included in the prospectus.
1 BlackRock; Informa Investment Solutions. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Standard deviation is a measurement of risk depicting the dispersion of returns from the average return. The higher the degree of dispersion, the higher the standard deviation. The information provided is for illustrative purposes only, and is not meant to represent the performance of any particular investment. The data assumes reinvestment of all income, and does not account for taxes or transaction costs. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Long-Only Equity is represented by the S&P 500 Index. Long-Only Fixed Income is represented by the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Enhanced portfolios include a 15% allocation to alternative assets, a 5% allocation to alternative equity strategies within the equity allocation and a 5% allocation to alternative fixed income strategies within the fixed income allocation. To fund these additional allocations, the equity allocation of each traditional portfolio is reduced by 15% and the fixed income allocation is reduced by 10%. The 15% allocation to alternative assets is represented by a 5% allocation to the S&P GSCI®, a 5% allocation to the Barclays Currency Traders Index and a 5% allocation to the NAREIT Equity Index. The 5% allocation to equity alternative strategies is represented by the Dow Jones/Credit Suisse Long Short Equity Index. The 5% allocation to fixed income alternative strategies is represented by the Dow Jones/Credit Suisse Fixed Income Arbitrage Index.
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