Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Except as set forth below, there have been no material changes to the Risk Factors last reported under Part I, Item 1A of the registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 20, 2024:
The market values of the investments by the Trust may be negatively impacted by changes in interest rates, and, as a result, the value or liquidity of the cash equivalents and marketable securities of the Trust could decline, which could adversely affect the performance of the Trust.
The Trust will hold cash or cash equivalents such as U.S. Treasury securities and thus is subject to interest rate risk, which refers to fluctuations in the value of a fixed-income security or other instrument due to changes in the general level of interest rates. An increase in interest rates generally will cause the value of fixed-income securities to decline. Securities with longer maturities generally are more sensitive to interest rate changes and subject to greater fluctuations in value. Changes in interest rates may have unpredictable effects on fixed-income markets and result in heightened market volatility and lower liquidity for certain instruments, all of which may adversely affect the Trust's performance. Interest rate changes can be sudden and unpredictable and are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply and demand for fixed-income securities.
A failure of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, the clearing futures commission merchant (the “ Clearing FCM ” ) to segregate assets or a default of the Clearing FCM, its customers or other market participants may cause losses for the Trust.
The Commodity Exchange Act requires clearing futures commission merchants (“FCMs”) to segregate all funds received from customers from such clearing FCM’s proprietary assets. If the Clearing FCM fails to segregate customer assets as required, the assets of the Trust might not be fully protected in the event of the Clearing FCM’s distress, impairment or bankruptcy. Furthermore, in the event of the Clearing FCM’s distress, impairment or bankruptcy, the Trust could be delayed in recovering its assets. The Trust also could be limited to recovering its pro rata share of all available customer funds held by the Clearing FCM, or the Trust may not recover any assets at all, even though certain property specifically traceable to the Trust was held by the Clearing FCM.
In addition, the Commodity Exchange Act requires an approved derivatives clearing organization to segregate all funds and other property received from an FCM on behalf of the FCM’s customers in connection with U.S. futures and options contracts from any funds held at the clearing organization to support the FCM’s proprietary trading. Nevertheless, customer funds held at a clearing organization in connection with futures or options contracts may be held in a commingled omnibus account, which may not identify the names of the FCM’s individual customers. With respect to futures and options contracts, a clearing organization may use the assets of a non-defaulting customer held in an omnibus account at the clearing organization to satisfy the payment obligations of a defaulting customer of the FCM to the clearing organization. In the event of a default of another client of the Clearing FCM or the Clearing FCM’s failure to extend its own funds in connection with any such default, the Trust may not be able to recover the full amount of assets deposited by the Clearing FCM with the clearing organization on the Trust’s behalf. In the event of a bankruptcy or insolvency of any exchange or clearing house, the Trust could experience a loss of the funds deposited through the Clearing FCM as margin with the exchange or clearing house, a loss of any unrealized profits on its open positions on the exchange, and the loss of unrealized profits on its closed positions on the exchange.
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