Strategy. The Index provides exposure to the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (the iShares ETF), which seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury bonds, commonly known as TIPS. TIPS are securities issued by the U.S. Treasury that are designed to provide inflation protection to investors. TIPS are income-generating instruments whose interest and principal payments are adjusted for inflation. Inflation is a sustained increase in prices that erodes the purchasing power of money. The inflation adjustments, which are typically applied monthly to the principal of the bond, follows a designated index, the consumer price index (CPI), and TIPS principal payments are adjusted according to changes in the CPI. A fixed coupon rate is applied to the … Show more… The Index provides exposure to the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (the iShares ETF), which seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury bonds, commonly known as TIPS. TIPS are securities issued by the U.S. Treasury that are designed to provide inflation protection to investors. TIPS are income-generating instruments whose interest and principal payments are adjusted for inflation. Inflation is a sustained increase in prices that erodes the purchasing power of money. The inflation adjustments, which are typically applied monthly to the principal of the bond, follows a designated index, the consumer price index (CPI), and TIPS principal payments are adjusted according to changes in the CPI. A fixed coupon rate is applied to the inflation-adjusted principal so that as inflation rises, both the principal value and the interest payments increase. This can provide investors with a hedge against inflation, as it helps preserve the purchasing power of an investment. Because of this inflation adjustment feature, inflation-protected bonds typically have lower yields than conventional fixed-rate bonds. The iShares ETF tracks the performance of a portfolio of all publicly-issued US. Treasury inflation-protected securities that have at least one year remaining to maturity, are rated investment-grade, have $250 million or more outstanding face value, are denominated in U.S. Dollars and are fixed-rate and non-convertible. iShares is a registered trademark of BlackRock, Inc. or its subsidiaries (BlackRock). Neither BlackRock nor the iShares Funds make any representations regarding the advisability of investing in the Fund. The Fund will concentrate its investment in a particular industry or group of industries ( i.e. , hold 25% or more of its total assets in the stocks of a particular industry or group of industries) to approximately the same extent as the Index is so concentrated. The Fund, under normal circumstances, invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowing for investment purposes) in financial instruments, such as swap agreements, securities of the Index, and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that track the Index and other financial instruments that provide daily leveraged exposure to the Index or to ETFs that track the Index, which, in combination, provide returns consistent with the Funds investment objective. The financial instruments in which the Fund most commonly invests are swap agreements and futures contracts which are intended to produce economically leveraged investment results. The Fund may invest in the securities of the Index, a representative sample of the securities in the Index that has aggregate characteristics similar to those of the Index, an ETF that tracks the Index or a substantially similar index, and may utilize derivatives, such as swaps or futures on the Index or on an ETF that tracks the same Index or a substantially similar index, that provide leveraged exposure to the above. The Fund seeks to remain fully invested at all times, consistent with its stated investment objective, but may not always have investment exposure to all of the securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities or industries may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest directly or indirectly in securities not included in the Index. In all cases, the investments would be designed to help the Fund track the Index. The Fund will attempt to achieve its investment objective without regard to overall market movement or the increase or decrease of the value of the securities in the Index. At the close of the markets each trading day, Rafferty rebalances the Funds portfolio so that its exposure to the Index is consistent with the Funds investment objective. The impact of the Indexs movements during the day will affect whether the Funds portfolio needs to be re-positioned. For example, if the Index has risen on a given day, net assets of the Fund should rise, meaning that the Funds exposure will need to be increased. Conversely, if the Index has fallen on a given day, net assets of the Fund should fall, meaning the Funds exposure will need to be reduced. This re-positioning strategy typically results in high portfolio turnover. On a day-to-day basis, the Fund is expected to hold ETFs and money market funds, deposit accounts with institutions with high quality credit ratings, and/or short-term debt instruments that have terms-to-maturity of less than 397 days and exhibit high quality credit profiles, including U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements. The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Funds total assets (excluding the value of the collateral received). The terms daily, day, and trading day, refer to the period from the close of the markets on one trading day to the close of the markets on the next trading day. The Fund is non-diversified, meaning that a relatively high percentage of its assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers of securities. Additionally, the Funds investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by the Funds Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Because of daily rebalancing and the compounding of each days return over time, the return of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will be the result of each days returns compounded over the period, which will very likely differ from 200% of the return of the Index over the same period. The Fund will lose money if the Index performance is flat over time, and as a result of daily rebalancing, the Indexs volatility and the effects of compounding, it is even possible that the Fund will lose money over time while the Indexs performance increases over a period longer than a single day. Show less