Strategy. The Fund is an index ? fund that seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) 100% Hedged to USD Index (the Index) over the long term. As an index ? fund, the Fund is not managed according to traditional methods of active ? investment management, which involve the buying and selling of securities based upon economic, financial and market analysis and investment judgment. The return of the Index is affected by the performance of Index constituents and the hedging strategy. In general, the Index would have higher returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are weakening relative to the U.S. dollar. Conversely, the Index generally would … Show more… The Fund is an index ? fund that seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) 100% Hedged to USD Index (the Index) over the long term. As an index ? fund, the Fund is not managed according to traditional methods of active ? investment management, which involve the buying and selling of securities based upon economic, financial and market analysis and investment judgment. The return of the Index is affected by the performance of Index constituents and the hedging strategy. In general, the Index would have higher returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are weakening relative to the U.S. dollar. Conversely, the Index generally would have lower returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are rising relative to the U.S. dollar. In seeking to track the performance of the Index, the Fund expects to employ a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund will not typically purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase a subset of the securities in the Index or other investments in an effort to create a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The number of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including the 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, may, instead, invest the Fund's assets in substantially all of the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests substantially all, but as a matter of policy no less than 80%, of its net assets (plus borrowings, if any) in securities, or American Depositary Receipts ( ADRs) or Global Depositary Receipts ( GDRs) based on securities, comprising the Index, or in other funds, including funds sponsored by the Adviser or its affiliates, in currency hedging instruments (and related collateral, if any), or in other investments, that the Adviser expects to provide a return highly correlated to the Index or a portion of the Index. The notional value of the Fund's investments in derivatives or other synthetic instruments that provide exposure comparable, in the judgment of the Adviser, to the foregoing types of investments may be counted toward satisfaction of this 80% policy. The Fund will provide shareholders with at least sixty (60) days' notice prior to any change in its policy to invest at least 80% of its assets as described in the foregoing. The Fund may invest in equity securities that are not included in the Index (including common stock, preferred stock, depositary receipts and shares of other investment companies), currency transactions, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including money market funds advised by the Adviser). The Fund may use derivatives, including futures contracts and options, swaps, and contracts for differences, to obtain investment exposures that the Adviser expects to correlate closely with the Index or a portion of the Index. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings, if any) in equity securities of issuers in developed economies or securities markets. For this purpose, countries with developed economies or securities markets ? refers to countries that are included in the Index, or a global developed markets equity index, and countries with similar characteristics (countries that have sustained economic development, sufficient liquidity for listed companies and accessible markets). The notional value of the Fund's investments in derivatives or other synthetic instruments that provide exposures comparable, in the judgment of the Adviser, to investments in equity securities of issuers in developing economies or securities markets may be counted toward satisfaction of this 80% policy. The Fund will provide shareholders with at least 60 days' notice prior to any change in this 80% investment policy. The Fund currently intends to gain all of its investment exposure to, and track the performance of, the Index constituents by investing in the State Street International Developed Equity Index Portfolio and employ its currency hedging strategy by directly entering into currency hedging transactions. The Adviser also serves as investment adviser to the Portfolio. When the Fund invests in the Portfolio, the Fund participates in the investment returns achieved by the Portfolio. Descriptions in this section of the investment activities of the Fund ? with respect to the Index constituents also generally describe the expected investment activities of the Portfolio. The Fund intends to hedge its non-U.S. currency exposure to the U.S. dollar, in a manner intended to replicate the currency hedge reflected in the Index. For this purpose, the Fund may enter into foreign currency forward contracts, forward currency futures and options, and currency swaps. The Index hedges each foreign currency in the Index back to the U.S. dollar by selling foreign currency forwards at the one-month forward rate. The size and exchange rate of each currency hedge is reset by the Index one time per month. Even if the Fund's hedging strategy works as intended, changes in currency exchange rates will still affect Fund returns (see Currency Hedging Risk ? below). The Fund's performance, like that of the Index, will depend on both the performance of the stocks comprising the Fund and the performance of the U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies. The Index is designed to capture the performance that can be achieved by hedging the currency exposures of its parent index, the MSCI EAFE Index, to the U.S. dollar. The MSCI EAFE Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to capture large and mid-cap securities in developed market countries, excluding the United States and Canada. As of February 28, 2025, the MSCI EAFE Index comprised 722 securities covering companies across 21 countries and represented 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization of those countries. As of February 28, 2025, a significant portion of the MSCI EAFE Index comprised companies in the financials sector, and companies located in Japan and the United Kingdom and a significant portion of the Index constituents are denominated in the Yen, the Pound Sterling and the Euro, although this may change from time to time. As of February 28, 2025, the full market capitalization of the companies included in the MSCI EAFE Index ranged from $ 1.94 billion to $289.46 billion. As of February 28, 2025, countries covered in the MSCI EAFE Index included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, although this may change from time to time. The Index is sponsored by MSCI, Inc. (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