Strategy. In seeking to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index ? (the Index), the Fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase a subset of the securities in the Index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the Fund. Based on its analysis of these factors, SSGA Funds Management, Inc. (SSGA FM or the Adviser), the investment adviser to the Fund, either may … Show more… In seeking to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index ? (the Index), the Fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase a subset of the securities in the Index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the Fund. Based on its analysis of these factors, SSGA Funds Management, Inc. (SSGA FM or the Adviser), the investment adviser to the Fund, either may invest the Fund's assets in a subset of securities in the Index or may invest the Fund's assets in substantially all of the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index, as determined by the Adviser to be in the best interest of the Fund in pursuing its objective. Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index and in securities that the Adviser determines have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the economic characteristics of the securities that comprise the Index. In addition, in seeking to track the Index, the Fund may invest in debt securities that are not included in the Index. The Fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments (including money market funds advised by the Adviser) for cash management purposes. In seeking to track the Index, the Fund's assets may be concentrated in an industry or group of industries, but only to the extent that the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries. The Fund may use derivatives, including credit default swaps and credit default index swaps, to obtain investment exposure that the Adviser expects to correlate closely with the Index, or a portion of the Index, and in managing cash flows. The Index is designed to measure the performance of the short term U.S. corporate bond market. The Index includes publicly issued U.S. dollar denominated corporate issues that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to 1 year and less than 3 years, are rated investment grade (must be Baa3/BBB- or higher using the middle rating of Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Fitch Ratings Inc., or S&P Global Ratings), and have $300 million or more of outstanding face value. In addition, the securities must be denominated in U.S. dollars, fixed rate and non-convertible. The Index includes only corporate categories. The corporate categories are Industrial, Utility, and Financial Institutions, which include both U.S. and non-U.S. corporations. The following instruments are excluded from the Index: structured notes with embedded swaps or other special features; private placements; floating rate securities; and Eurobonds. The Index is market capitalization weighted and the securities in the Index are updated on the last business day of each month. As of August 31, 2025, a significant portion of the Fund comprised companies in the financial and industrial sectors, although this may change from time to time. As of July 31, 2025, there were 1,622 securities in the Index and the dollar-weighted average maturity of the securities in the Index was 2.00 years. The Index is sponsored by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the Index Provider), which is not affiliated with the Fund or the Adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition of the Index, relative weightings of the securities in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index. Show less