497K 1 d295263d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K
 June 23, 2022
   
    
 2022 Summary Prospectus
•  iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | HYGI |  NYSE ARCA
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus (including amendments and supplements) and other information about the Fund, including the Fund’s statement of additional information and shareholder reports, online at https://www.ishares.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or by sending an e-mail request to iSharesETFs@blackrock.com, or from your financial professional. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated June 17, 2022, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into (legally made a part of) this Summary Prospectus. Information on the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 


iSHARES® INFLATION HEDGED HIGH YIELD BOND ETF
Ticker: HYGI Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca
Investment Objective
The iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the “Trust”) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.” Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred by investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the “Prospectus”). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund’s investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (“HYG” or the “Underlying Fund”), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)
Management
Fees
  Distribution and
Service (12b-1)
Fees
  Other
Expenses1
  Acquired Fund Fees
and Expenses
  Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
  Fee Waiver   Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
After
Fee Waiver
0.55%   None   0.00   0.47%   1.02%   (0.50)%   0.52%

1 The amount rounded to 0.00%.
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Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
  1 Year   3 Years  
  $53   $167  
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s performance.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, which is represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the “Index Provider”)). As of May 9, 2022, the Underlying Index includes
approximately 11 components (including shares of the Underlying Fund), and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 1,290 securities. The Fund uses its investment in the Underlying Fund primarily to gain exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds (commonly referred to as “junk bonds”). The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (i.e., derivative contracts used to transfer inflation risk by exchanging a fixed cash flow for a floating cash flow). The Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index. The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio’s inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index
 
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and remove the previous month’s swap contracts.
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund’s Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may also invest in other instruments designed to transfer inflation risk from one party to another, including but not limited to U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (“TIPS”), total return swaps, futures and options (collectively with inflation swaps, “inflation hedging instruments”). The Fund’s investments in inflation hedging instruments are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than inflation rates. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds owned by the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.
A registered investment company and its adviser are subject to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment
company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund’s potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a “commodity pool” and BFA is considered a “commodity pool operator” with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
BFA uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit
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ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.
The Fund may lend securities from its portfolio representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund’s investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (“NAV”),
trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a
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premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to construct the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Underlying Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will be free of error.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may “call” or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a “commodity pool operator” with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association (“NFA”). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.
Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to
technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. Consumer cyclical companies rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies may be adversely affected by domestic and international economic downturns, changes in exchange and interest rates, competition, consumers’ disposable income and preferences, social trends and marketing campaigns.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers,
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market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of inflation on the performance of high yield corporate bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. The Fund’s use of inflation hedging instruments is intended solely to mitigate inflation risk and is not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk, or other factors influencing the price of high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds’ returns than inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s positions in inflation hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long
positions in high yield corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates rise above the inflation rate, the Fund’s investments will generally underperform a portfolio composed solely of the high yield corporate bonds. In certain low inflation rate environments, the Fund’s hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the positions in inflation hedging instruments as compared to gains in the long high yield corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. The Fund only seeks to hedge the impact of inflation and, as a result, if floating interest rates rise above the inflation-linked rates, the Fund will not be hedged. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund’s positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund incurs expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the high yield corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”) or below “Baa3” by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody's”)), or are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline when interest rates fall because the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have
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floating or variable interest rates. The Fund’s income may decline because the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in the supply of and demand for products and services, product obsolescence, claims for environmental damage or product liability and changes in general economic conditions, among other factors.
Infectious Illness Risk. An outbreak of an infectious respiratory illness, COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus has resulted in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare systems, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic impacts. Certain markets have experienced temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. These events will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and could impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Other infectious illness outbreaks in the future may result in similar impacts.
Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. There can be no assurance that the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), which typically is referenced by inflation swaps, or any other inflation index will accurately measure the rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. CPI swaps may cause the Fund’s NAV and returns to be more volatile and expose the Fund to counterparty risk. The Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the high yield corporate bonds, and the present value of the Fund’s portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.
Inflation Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of inflation primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and
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measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.
By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period. However, if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) is less than the rate of inflation expected for that period, the Fund generally will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Fund as a result of having entered into the CPI swap.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over
certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
In order to hedge the risk of interest rate increases due to inflation, the Fund will take positions in inflation hedging instruments. As a result, when the rate of inflation does not increase or when interest rates increase or decrease inversely to changes in the rate of inflation, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will have positive performance even in environments of sharply rising inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will be able to successfully mitigate inflation risk or that bond values and interest rates will match changes in inflation rates.
Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund’s investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of
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inflation. The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.
As the Fund’s allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.
Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to Management Risk, Market Risk, and Market Trading Risk, among other risks.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.
Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s or Underlying Fund's NAV.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund may invest a large percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers.
Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks
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through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income or return potential.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“1933 Act”). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.
Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.
Security Risk. Some countries and regions in which the Fund invests have experienced security concerns, such as terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may
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adversely affect its economy and the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund’s distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as “wash sales.”
Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund’s investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to “tracking error,” which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be
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heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund or the Underlying Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s or the Underlying Fund's ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Performance Information
As of the date of the Prospectus, the Fund has not commenced operations and therefore has no performance information to report.
Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since inception (2022).
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account (“IRA”),
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in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the
development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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For more information visit www.iShares.com or call 1-800-474-2737
IS-SP-HYGI-0622
Investment Company Act file No.: 811-22649