PROSPECTUS

October 1, 2022

 
 

T. ROWE PRICE

TOTR

Total Return ETF

 
 

Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares are not individually redeemable.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 
   
 


 

Table of Contents

       

1

SUMMARY

   
 

Total Return ETF 1

2

MORE ABOUT THE FUND

 

Management of the Fund 9

More Information About the Fund’s
Investment Objective(s), Strategies,
and Risks
 10

Portfolio Turnover 30

Financial Highlights 31

Disclosure of Fund Portfolio Information 33

3

SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION


 

     

SUMMARY

 

1

   

Investment Objective(s)

The fund seeks to maximize total return through income and, secondarily, capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the fund. You may also incur brokerage commissions and other charges when buying or selling shares of the fund, which are not reflected in the table or example below.

         

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

 

 

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management fees

0.31

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other expenses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual fund operating expenses

0.31

 

 

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in 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, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the fund’s fees and 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

5 years

10 years

$32

$100

$174

$393

Portfolio Turnover The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when the fund’s shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. For the period September 28, 2021 through May 31, 2022, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 45.1% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks, and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of bonds and other debt instruments. The fund has considerable flexibility in seeking strong returns and its portfolio is constructed with a goal of being able to respond to a wide variety of market conditions. The fund’s investments typically include, but are not limited to, debt instruments issued by the U.S. government and its agencies (such as U.S. Treasury securities), corporate bonds, bank loans (which represent an interest in amounts owed by a borrower to a syndicate of lenders), and various types of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities.


   

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The fund may invest up to 35% of its net assets in corporate bonds and other debt instruments that are rated below investment-grade (below BBB, or an equivalent rating), commonly known as junk bonds or high yield bonds, by each of the rating agencies that have assigned a rating to the security or, if unrated, deemed by T. Rowe Price to be below investment-grade. The fund may purchase securities of any credit rating, including distressed and defaulted securities. If a holding is split rated (i.e., rated investment grade by at least one rating agency and below investment-grade by another rating agency), the higher rating will be used for purposes of this requirement.

The fund may invest in securities issued by both U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, including issuers in emerging market countries. Up to 20% of the fund’s net assets can be invested in non-U.S. dollar-denominated holdings, and there is no limit on the fund’s investments in U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers, including issuers in emerging markets. The fund relies on a classification by an unaffiliated third-party data provider to determine which countries are emerging markets. The fund may also gain exposure to currencies through derivative instruments without holding any bonds or other securities denominated in those particular currencies.

The fund may purchase securities of any maturity and there are no overall maturity restrictions for the portfolio. The fund’s weighted average maturity and duration will generally shift in response to current interest rates and expected interest rate changes.

The fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the “to-be-announced” (TBA) market. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date, but the delivered securities must meet specified terms and standards. The fund will generally enter into TBA transactions with the intention of taking possession of the underlying mortgage-backed securities. However, in an effort to obtain underlying mortgage-backed securities on more preferable terms or to enhance returns, the fund may extend the settlement by entering into “dollar roll” transactions in which the fund sells mortgage-backed securities and simultaneously agrees to purchase substantially similar securities on a future date. The fund also expects to engage in short sales of TBA mortgages, including short sales on TBA mortgages the fund does not own, to potentially enhance returns or manage risk.

While most assets will typically be invested directly in bonds and other debt instruments, the fund also uses interest rate futures; interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, and currency swaps; forward currency exchange contracts; and options on any of those instruments to manage duration and tactically gain or limit exposure to certain areas of the markets. Interest rate futures are typically used to manage the fund’s exposure to interest rate changes or to adjust portfolio duration. Interest rate swaps are also used to adjust portfolio duration, credit default swaps can be used to protect the value of certain portfolio holdings, as an alternative to cash bonds, and to manage the fund’s overall credit risk exposure. Forward currency exchange contracts are used to gain exposure to certain currencies expected to increase or decrease in value relative to other currencies or to protect the fund’s foreign holdings from adverse currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar.


   

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When deciding whether to adjust allocations among the various types of securities in which the fund may invest, the adviser weighs such factors as the outlook for inflation and the economy, expected interest rate movements, credit conditions, and the yield advantage that lower-rated bonds may offer over investment-grade bonds. When there is a large yield difference between the various quality levels and the outlook warrants, the fund may move down the credit scale and purchase lower-rated bonds with higher yields, such as junk bonds and emerging market bonds. When the difference is small or the outlook warrants, the fund may concentrate investments in higher-rated issues, such as Treasury securities.

Principal Risks

As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the fund will achieve its objective(s). The fund’s share price fluctuates, which means you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in this fund, which may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions, are summarized as follows:

Fixed income markets Economic and other market developments can adversely affect the fixed income securities markets. At times, participants in these markets may develop concerns about the ability of certain issuers of debt instruments to make timely principal and interest payments, or they may develop concerns about the ability of financial institutions that make markets in certain debt instruments to facilitate an orderly market. Those concerns could cause increased volatility and reduced liquidity in particular securities or in the overall fixed income markets and the related derivatives markets. A lack of liquidity or other adverse credit market conditions may hamper the fund’s ability to sell the debt instruments in which it invests or to find and purchase suitable debt instruments.

Market conditions The value of the fund’s investments may decrease, sometimes rapidly or unexpectedly, due to factors affecting an issuer held by the fund, particular industries, or the overall securities markets. A variety of factors can increase the volatility of the fund’s holdings and markets generally, including political or regulatory developments, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, war, military conflict, or acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and outbreaks of infectious illnesses or other widespread public health issues such as the coronavirus pandemic and related governmental and public responses (including sanctions). Certain events may cause instability across global markets, including reduced liquidity and disruptions in trading markets, while some events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors, and industries more significantly than others. Government intervention in markets may impact interest rates, market volatility, and security pricing. These adverse developments may cause broad declines in market value due to short-term market movements or for significantly longer periods during more prolonged market downturns.

Interest rates The prices of, and the income generated by, debt instruments held by the fund may be affected by changes in interest rates. A rise in interest rates typically causes the price of a fixed rate debt instrument to fall and its yield to rise. Conversely, a decline in interest rates typically causes the price of a fixed rate debt instrument to rise and the yield to fall. The prices and yields of inflation-linked bonds are directly impacted by the rate of inflation as well as changes in interest rates. Generally, funds with longer weighted average maturities and


   

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durations carry greater interest rate risk. Changes in monetary policy made by central banks and/or governments, such as the discontinuation and replacement of benchmark rates, are likely to affect the interest rates or yields of the securities in which the fund invests.

Prepayments and extensions The fund is subject to prepayment risks because the principal on mortgage-backed securities, other asset-backed securities, or any debt instrument with an embedded call option may be prepaid at any time, which could reduce the security’s yield and market value. The rate of prepayments tends to increase as interest rates fall, which could cause the average maturity of the portfolio to shorten. Extension risk may result from a rise in interest rates, which tends to make mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and other callable debt instruments more volatile.

LIBOR transition Many financial instruments use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate, or “LIBOR,” which is the offered rate for short-term Eurodollar deposits between major international banks. After June 30, 2023, LIBOR will cease to be published and therefore all loans outstanding will be benchmarked to an alternate rate. Floating rate bank loan coupons may be benchmarked to a short-term interest rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), in the future. The elimination of LIBOR or changes to other reference rates or any other changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of reference rates could have an adverse impact on the market for, or value of, any securities or payments linked to those reference rates, which may adversely affect the fund’s performance and/or net asset value.

Foreign investing Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers may be adversely affected by local, political, social, and economic conditions overseas; greater volatility; reduced liquidity; or decreases in foreign currency values relative to the U.S. dollar. The risks of investing outside the U.S. are heightened for any investments in emerging markets, which are susceptible to greater volatility than investments in developed markets.

Emerging markets Investments in emerging market countries are subject to greater risk and overall volatility than investments in the U.S. and other developed markets. Emerging market countries tend to have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, less developed legal and regulatory regimes, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries. In addition to the risks associated with investing outside the U.S., emerging markets are more susceptible to governmental interference, political and economic uncertainty, local taxes and restrictions on the fund’s investments, less efficient trading markets with lower overall liquidity, and more volatile currency exchange rates.

Credit quality An issuer of a debt instrument could suffer an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default (failure to make scheduled interest or principal payments), rating downgrade, or inability to meet a financial obligation. Securities that are rated below investment grade carry greater risk of default and should be considered speculative.

Junk investing Investments in bonds that are rated below investment grade, commonly referred to as junk bonds, expose the fund to greater volatility and credit risk than investments


   

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in bonds that are rated investment grade. Issuers of junk bonds are usually not as strong financially and are more likely to suffer an adverse change in financial condition that would result in the inability to meet a financial obligation. As a result, bonds rated below investment grade carry a higher risk of default and should be considered speculative.

Bank loans Investments in bank loans expose the fund to additional risks beyond those normally associated with more traditional debt instruments. The fund’s ability to receive payments in connection with a loan depends primarily on the financial condition of the borrower and whether or not a loan is secured by collateral, although there is no assurance that the collateral securing a loan will be sufficient to satisfy the loan obligation. In addition, bank loans often have contractual restrictions on resale, which can delay the sale and adversely impact the sale price. Transactions involving bank loans may have significantly longer settlement periods than more traditional investments (settlement can take longer than 7 days) and often involve borrowers whose financial condition is troubled or highly leveraged, which increases the risk that the fund may not receive its proceeds in a timely manner or that the fund may incur losses in order to pay redemption proceeds to its shareholders. In addition, loans are not registered under the federal securities laws like stocks and bonds, so investors in loans have less protection against improper practices than investors in registered securities.

Derivatives The use of interest rate futures, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, currency swaps, forward currency exchange contracts, and options expose the fund to additional volatility in comparison to investing directly in bonds and other debt instruments. These instruments can be illiquid and difficult to value, may involve leverage so that small changes produce disproportionate losses for the fund and, if not traded on an exchange, are subject to the risk that a counterparty to the transaction will fail to meet its obligations under the derivatives contract. The fund’s principal use of derivatives involves the risk that anticipated interest rate movements, expected changes in currency values and currency exchange rates, or the creditworthiness of an issuer will not be accurately predicted, which could significantly harm the fund’s performance and impair the fund’s efforts to reduce its overall volatility.

TBAs and dollar rolls Although the securities that are delivered in TBA transactions must meet certain standards, there is a risk that the actual securities received by the fund may be less favorable than what was anticipated when entering into the transaction. TBA transactions are collateralized but they still involve the risk that a counterparty will fail to deliver the security, exposing the fund to potential losses. Whether or not the fund takes delivery of the securities at the termination date of a TBA transaction, it will nonetheless be exposed to changes in the value of the underlying investments during the term of the agreement. Forward settling securities, such as TBAs, involve leverage which may magnify investment risks and can cause losses to be realized more quickly. In addition, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate and transaction costs are increased when the fund enters into dollar roll transactions.

Liquidity The fund may not be able to meet requests to redeem shares issued by the fund without significant dilution of the remaining shareholders’ interests in the fund. In addition, the fund may not be able to sell a holding in a timely manner at a desired price. Reduced liquidity in the bond markets can result from a number of events, such as limited trading


   

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activity, reductions in bond inventory, and rapid or unexpected changes in interest rates. Markets with lower overall liquidity could lead to greater price volatility and limit the fund’s ability to sell a holding at a suitable price.

Portfolio turnover High portfolio turnover may adversely affect the fund’s performance and increase transaction costs, which could increase the fund’s expenses. High portfolio turnover may also result in the distribution of higher capital gains when compared with a fund with less active trading policies, which could have an adverse tax impact if the fund’s shares are held in a taxable account.

Authorized Participant Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the fund. The fund has a limited number of intermediaries that act as Authorized Participants, and none of these Authorized Participants are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. 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, (i) the market price of the fund’s shares may trade at a premium or discount to its net asset value (NAV), (ii) an active trading market for the fund may not develop or be maintained, and (iii) there is no assurance that the requirements of the exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the fund will continue to be met or remain unchanged.

New fund Because the fund is new, it has a more limited operating history, fewer shareholders, and less assets than funds that have been in existence for longer periods. It may be more difficult to evaluate the investment program and portfolio manager of a fund with a limited performance track record. Due to the fund’s concentrated shareholder base, large shareholder purchases or redemptions could require the fund to buy or sell holdings at unfavorable times or maintain greater cash reserves than desired, any of which could make it difficult to invest fully in accordance with the fund’s investment program and limit the portfolio manager’s ability to successfully implement the fund’s investment strategies. There is no assurance that the fund will be able to sufficiently increase its assets and shareholders in the future, which could lead to the fund ultimately being liquidated and ceasing its operations. In such an event, shareholders may be required to redeem or transfer their investment in the fund at an inopportune time.

Active management The investment adviser’s judgments about the attractiveness, value, liquidity, or potential appreciation of the fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. The fund could underperform compared with the benchmark or other funds with similar objectives and investment strategies.

Cybersecurity breaches The fund could be harmed by intentional cyberattacks and other cybersecurity breaches, including unauthorized access to the fund’s assets, customer data and confidential shareholder information, or other proprietary information. In addition, a cybersecurity breach could cause one of the fund’s service providers or financial intermediaries to suffer unauthorized data access, data corruption, or loss of operational functionality.


   

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7

Performance

Because the fund commenced operations in 2021, there is no historical performance information shown here. Performance history will be presented after the fund has been in operation for one full calendar year.

Updated performance information is available through troweprice.com.

Management

Investment Adviser T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (T. Rowe Price or Price Associates)

Investment Subadviser T. Rowe Price International Ltd (Price International)

Investment Subadviser T. Rowe Price Hong Kong Limited (Price Hong Kong)

       

Portfolio Manager

Title

Managed
Fund
Since

Joined
Investment
Adviser

Christopher P. Brown

Cochair of
Investment Advisory Committee

2021

2005

Anna Alexandra Dreyer

Cochair of
Investment Advisory Committee

2021

2008

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The fund issues and redeems shares at NAV only with Authorized Participants and only in large blocks of 25,000 shares (each, a “Creation Unit”). Individual fund shares may not be purchased or redeemed directly with the fund. An Authorized Participant may purchase or redeem a Creation Unit of the fund each business day that the fund is open in exchange for the delivery of a designated portfolio of in-kind securities and/or cash.

Individual fund shares may be purchased and sold only on a national securities exchange through brokers. Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. and because the shares will trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at prices greater than NAV (at a premium), at NAV, or less than NAV (at a discount). You 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”). Please refer to the fund’s website for additional information (troweprice.com).

Tax Information

The fund declares dividends, if any, and pays them monthly. A distribution may consist of ordinary dividends, capital gains, and return of capital. Sales of fund shares and distributions by the fund generally may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains unless you invest through a tax-deferred account (in which case you will be taxed upon withdrawal from such account).


   

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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), T. Rowe Price and its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. 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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2

   
MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND

Investment Adviser(s)

T. Rowe Price is the fund’s investment adviser and oversees the selection of the fund’s investments and management of the fund’s portfolio pursuant to an investment management agreement between the investment adviser and the fund. T. Rowe Price is the investment adviser for all funds sponsored and managed by T. Rowe Price (T. Rowe Price Funds); is an SEC-registered investment adviser that provides investment management services to individual and institutional investors and sponsors; and serves as adviser and subadviser to registered investment companies, institutional separate accounts, and common trust funds. The address for T. Rowe Price is 100 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. As of June 30, 2022, T. Rowe Price and its affiliates (Firm) had approximately $1.31 trillion in assets under management and provided investment management services for more than 6.2 million individual and institutional investor accounts.

T. Rowe Price has entered into a subadvisory agreement with Price International under which Price International is authorized to trade securities and make discretionary investment decisions on behalf of the fund. Price International is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser, and is authorized or licensed by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority and other global regulators. Price International sponsors and serves as adviser to foreign collective investment schemes and provides investment management services to registered investment companies and other institutional investors. Price International is headquartered in London and has several branch offices around the world. Price International is a direct subsidiary of T. Rowe Price and its address is 60 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4N 4TZ, United Kingdom.

T. Rowe Price has entered into a subadvisory agreement with Price Hong Kong under which Price Hong Kong is authorized to trade securities and make discretionary investment decisions on behalf of the fund. Price Hong Kong is licensed with the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and is registered as an investment adviser with the SEC. Price Hong Kong serves as a subadviser to investment companies and provides investment management services for other clients who seek to primarily invest in the Asia-Pacific securities markets. Price Hong Kong is a subsidiary of T. Rowe Price and T. Rowe Price International, and its address is 6/F Chater House, 8 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong.

Portfolio Management

T. Rowe Price has established an Investment Advisory Committee with respect to the fund. The committee cochairs are ultimately responsible for the day-to-day management of the fund’s portfolio and work with the committee in developing and executing the fund’s investment program. The members of the committee are as follows: Christopher P. Brown and


   

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Anna Alexandra Dreyer, cochairs, Stephen L. Bartolini, Jason A. Bauer, Robert M. Larkins, Yongheon Lee, Pradeep Manikonda, Kenneth Antony Orchard, Saurabh Sud, and Christopher J. Temple. The following information provides the year that the cochairs first joined the Firm and the cochairs’ specific business experience during the past five years (although the cochairs may have had portfolio management responsibilities for a longer period). Mr. Brown has been cochair of the committee since the fund’s inception in 2021. He joined the Firm in 2005, and his investment experience dates from 2000. During the past five years, he has served as a portfolio manager, an associate portfolio manager, and portfolio investment strategist focusing on the Firm’s U.S. taxable bond strategies. Ms. Dreyer has been cochair of the committee since the fund’s inception in 2021. She joined the Firm in 2008, and her investment experience dates from that time. During the past five years, Ms. Dreyer served as head of Risk and Portfolio Construction Research in the Firm’s Fixed Income Division (beginning 2019). Prior to that, she served as portfolio manager of the Firm’s Managed Volatility Investment strategies and as an associate director of research within Multi-Asset Division. The Statement of Additional Information (SAI) provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers, and the portfolio managers’ ownership of the fund’s shares.

The Management Fee

The fund pays the investment adviser an annual all-inclusive management fee of 0.31% based on the fund’s average daily net assets. The management fee is calculated and accrued daily, and it includes investment management services and ordinary, recurring operating expenses, except for certain expenses. The following expenses are excluded from the all-inclusive management fee: interest and borrowing expenses, taxes, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, fund proxy expenses, and nonrecurring and extraordinary expenses.

A discussion about the factors considered by the fund’s Board of Directors (Board) and its conclusions in approving the fund’s investment management agreement (and any subadvisory agreement, if applicable) appear in the fund’s annual shareholder report for the period ended May 31.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND’S INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE(S), STRATEGIES, AND RISKS

Investment Objective(s)

The fund seeks to maximize total return through income and, secondarily, capital appreciation.

The fund’s investment objective(s) constitutes a non-fundamental policy that the Board may change without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders. The fundamental and non-fundamental policies of the fund are set forth in the SAI.


   

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Principal Investment Strategies

The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of bonds and other debt instruments. The fund has considerable flexibility in seeking strong returns and its portfolio is constructed with a goal of being able to respond to a wide variety of market conditions. The fund’s investments typically include, but are not limited to, debt instruments issued by the U.S. government and its agencies (such as U.S. Treasury securities), corporate bonds, bank loans (which represent an interest in amounts owed by a borrower to a syndicate of lenders), and various types of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities.

The fund may invest up to 35% of its net assets in corporate bonds and other debt instruments that are rated below investment-grade (below BBB, or an equivalent rating), commonly known as junk bonds or high yield bonds, by each of the rating agencies that have assigned a rating to the security or, if unrated, deemed by T. Rowe Price to be below investment-grade. The fund may purchase securities of any credit rating, including distressed and defaulted securities. If a holding is split rated (i.e., rated investment grade by at least one rating agency and below investment-grade by another rating agency), the higher rating will be used for purposes of this requirement.

The fund may invest in securities issued by both U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, including issuers in emerging market countries. Up to 20% of the fund’s net assets can be invested in non-U.S. dollar-denominated holdings, and there is no limit on the fund’s investments in U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers, including issuers in emerging markets. The fund relies on a classification by an unaffiliated third-party data provider to determine which countries are emerging markets. The fund may also gain exposure to currencies through derivative instruments without holding any bonds or other securities denominated in those particular currencies.

For purposes of determining whether a particular country is considered a developed market or an emerging market, the fund considers a country to be an emerging market if it is either included in an emerging market index published by JP Morgan or not included in the International Monetary Fund’s listing of advanced economies. The data providers use various criteria to determine the country to which a security is economically tied. Examples include the following: (1) the country under which the issuer is organized; (2) the location of the issuer’s principal place of business or principal office; (3) where the issuer’s securities are listed or traded principally on an exchange or over-the-counter market; and (4) where the issuer conducts the predominant part of its business activities or derives a significant portion (e.g., at least 50%) of its revenues or profits.

In addition to investing in a wide array of bonds and other debt instruments, the fund also uses interest rate futures; interest rate, credit default, and currency swaps; and forward currency exchange contracts as part of its principal investment strategies. Interest rate futures and interest rate swaps are typically used to manage the fund’s duration and overall interest rate exposure, but futures may also be used as a tool to help manage significant cash flows into and out of the fund. Currency swaps and forward currency exchange contracts are used to protect the fund’s non-U.S. dollar-denominated holdings from adverse currency movements by


   

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hedging the fund’s foreign currency exposure back to the U.S. dollar, as well as to gain exposure to a currency believed to be appreciating in value versus other currencies. Credit default swaps are used to protect against a negative credit event (such as a bankruptcy or downgrade) or an expected decline in the creditworthiness of an issuer, to hedge the portfolio’s overall credit risk, or to efficiently gain exposure to certain sectors or asset classes (such as high yield bonds).

The fund’s yield will vary. The fund’s yield is the annualized dividends earned for a given period (typically 30 days for bond funds), divided by the share price at the end of the period. The fund’s total return includes distributions from income and capital gains and the change in share price for a given period.

Credit quality refers to a bond issuer’s expected ability to make all required interest and principal payments on time. Because highly-rated issuers represent less risk, they can borrow at lower interest rates than less creditworthy issuers. Therefore, a fund investing in high-quality securities should have a lower yield than an otherwise comparable fund investing in lower-quality securities.

Bonds and loans have a stated maturity date when their entire principal value must be repaid to the investor. However, many loans are prepayable at par at the borrower’s discretion and many bonds are “callable,” meaning their principal can be repaid before the stated maturity date. Fixed rate bonds are most likely to be called when interest rates are falling because the issuer can refinance at a lower rate, just as a homeowner refinances a mortgage when interest rates fall. In that environment, a bond’s “effective maturity” is usually its nearest call date. For example, the rate at which homeowners pay down their mortgage principal determines the effective maturity of mortgage-backed bonds.

A bond fund has no real maturity, but it does have a weighted average maturity and a weighted average effective maturity. Each of these numbers is an average of the stated or effective maturities of the underlying loans and bonds, with each holding’s maturity “weighted” by the percentage of the fund’s assets it represents, and an average effective maturity taking into consideration that securities may be called or prepaid.

Duration is a calculation that seeks to measure the price sensitivity of a bond or a bond fund to changes in interest rates. It is expressed in years, like maturity, but it is a better indicator of price sensitivity than maturity because it takes into account the time value of cash flows generated over the bond’s life. Future interest and principal payments are discounted to reflect their present value and then multiplied by the number of years they will be received to produce a value expressed in years—the duration. “Effective” duration takes into account call features and sinking fund payments that may shorten a bond’s life.

Since duration can be computed for bond funds, you can estimate the effect of interest rate fluctuations on share prices by multiplying the fund’s duration by an expected change in interest rates. For example, the price of a bond fund with a duration of five years would be expected to fall approximately 5% if interest rates rose by one percentage point. A bond fund


   

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with a longer duration will generally be more sensitive to changes in interest rates than a bond fund with a shorter duration.

Mortgage-backed securities differ from other high-quality bonds in one major respect. Non-mortgage bonds generally repay principal (face value of the bond) when their maturity date is reached, but most mortgage-backed securities repay principal continually as homeowners make mortgage payments. Homeowners have the option of paying either part or all of the loan balance before maturity, perhaps to refinance or buy a new home. As a result, the effective maturity of a mortgage-backed security is virtually always shorter than its stated maturity. For example, a newly issued pass-through certificate backed by 30-year, fixed rate mortgages will generally have a far shorter life than 30 years—probably 12 years or less. Therefore, it will usually be about as volatile as a 10-year Treasury bond. It is possible to estimate the average life of an entire mortgage pool backing a particular security with some accuracy, but not with certainty.

The fund may gain investment exposure to mortgage-backed securities by entering into agreements to buy or sell securities through the TBA market. The fund would enter into a commitment to either purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities for a fixed price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for mortgage-backed securities. These transactions are considered to be TBA because the fund commits to buy a pool of mortgages that have yet to be specifically identified but will meet certain standardized parameters (such as yield, duration, and credit quality) and contain similar loan characteristics. For either purchase or sale transactions, the fund may choose to extend the settlement through a “dollar roll” transaction in which it sells mortgage-backed securities to a dealer and simultaneously agrees to purchase substantially similar securities in the future at a predetermined price. These transactions have the potential to enhance the fund’s returns and reduce its administrative burdens when compared with holding mortgage-backed securities directly, although these transactions will increase the fund’s portfolio turnover rate. During the roll period, the fund forgoes principal and interest paid on the securities. However, the fund would be compensated by the difference between the current sale price and the forward price for the future purchase, as well as by the interest earned on the cash proceeds of the initial sale. The fund also expects to engage in short sales of TBA mortgages, including short sales on TBA mortgages the fund does not own, to potentially enhance returns or manage risk.

The Firm integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into its investment research process for certain investments. While ESG matters vary widely, we generally consider ESG factors such as climate change, resource depletion, labor standards, diversity, human rights issues, and governance structure and practices. For certain types of investments, including, but not limited to, cash, currency positions, and particular types of derivatives, an ESG analysis may not be relevant or possible due to a lack of data. Where ESG considerations are integrated into the investment research process, we focus on the ESG factors we consider most likely to have a material impact on the performance of the holdings in the fund’s portfolio. We may conclude that other attributes of an investment outweigh ESG considerations when making investment decisions for the fund.


   

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The fund may sell holdings for a variety of reasons, such as to adjust the portfolio’s average maturity, duration, or overall credit quality or to shift assets into and out of higher- or lower-yielding securities or certain sectors.

The fund invests in the following types of securities or assets:

Bonds

A bond is an interest-bearing security. The issuer has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) on a specified date. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, and the investor may have to invest the proceeds at lower market rates. Bonds can be issued by U.S. and foreign governments, states, and municipalities, as well as a wide variety of companies.

A bond’s annual interest income, set by its coupon rate, is usually fixed for the life of the bond. Its yield (income as a percent of current price) will fluctuate to reflect changes in interest rate levels. A bond’s price usually rises when interest rates fall and vice versa, so its yield generally stays consistent with current market conditions.

Conventional fixed rate bonds offer a coupon rate for a fixed maturity with no adjustment for inflation. Real rate of return bonds also offer a fixed coupon but include ongoing inflation adjustments for the life of the bond.

Certain bonds have floating or variable interest rates that are adjusted periodically based on a particular index. These interest rate adjustments tend to minimize fluctuations in the bonds’ principal values. The maturity of certain floating rate securities may be shortened under certain specified conditions.

Bonds, including asset- and mortgage-backed securities, may be secured (backed by specific collateral) or may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness).

Foreign Securities

The fund may invest in foreign securities non-U.S. dollar-denominated traded outside the U.S. and U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers traded in the U.S. (such as Yankee bonds).

Mortgage-Backed Securities

The fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage lenders pool individual home mortgages with similar characteristics to back a certificate or bond, which is sold to investors such as the fund. Interest and principal payments generated by the underlying mortgages are passed through to the investors. The “big three” issuers are the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Government National Mortgage Association certificates are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, while others, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation certificates, are only supported by the ability to borrow from the U.S. Treasury or by the credit of the agency. (The Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation operate under conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, an


   

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independent federal agency.) Private mortgage bankers and other institutions also issue mortgage-backed securities.

Mortgage-backed securities are subject to scheduled and unscheduled principal payments as homeowners pay down or prepay their mortgages. As these payments are received, they must be reinvested when interest rates may be higher or lower than on the original mortgage security. Therefore, these securities are not an effective means of locking in long-term interest rates. In addition, when interest rates fall, the rate of mortgage prepayments, including refinancings, tends to increase. Refinanced mortgages are paid off at face value or “par,” causing a loss for any investor who may have purchased the security at a price above par. In such an environment, this risk limits the potential price appreciation of these securities and can negatively affect the fund’s net asset value. When interest rates rise, the prices of mortgage-backed securities can be expected to decline. In addition, when interest rates rise and prepayments slow, the effective duration of mortgage-backed securities extends, resulting in increased price volatility.

Mortgage-backed securities differ from other high-quality bonds in one major respect. The fund may gain investment exposure to mortgage-backed securities by entering into agreements to buy or sell securities through the TBA market. The fund would enter into a commitment to either purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities for a fixed price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for mortgage-backed securities. These transactions are considered to be TBA because the fund commits to buy a pool of mortgages that have yet to be specifically identified but will meet certain standardized parameters (such as yield, duration, and credit quality) and contain similar loan characteristics. For either purchase or sale transactions, the fund may choose to extend the settlement through a “dollar roll” transaction in which it sells mortgage-backed securities to a dealer and simultaneously agrees to purchase substantially similar securities in the future at a predetermined price. These transactions have the potential to enhance the fund’s returns and reduce its administrative burdens when compared with holding mortgage-backed securities directly, although these transactions will increase the fund’s portfolio turnover rate. During the roll period, the fund forgoes principal and interest paid on the securities. However, the fund would be compensated by the difference between the current sale price and the forward price for the future purchase, as well as by the interest earned on the cash proceeds of the initial sale.

Other types of mortgage-backed securities in which the fund may invest include:

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations Collateralized mortgage obligations are debt instruments that are fully collateralized by a portfolio of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities including Government National Mortgage Association, Federal National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and non-agency-backed mortgages. All interest and principal payments from the underlying mortgages are passed through to the collateralized mortgage obligations in such a way as to create different classes with varying risk characteristics, payment structures, and maturity dates. Collateralized mortgage obligation classes may pay fixed or variable rates of interest, and certain classes have priority over others with respect to the receipt of prepayments and allocation of defaults.


   

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Stripped Mortgage Securities Stripped mortgage securities are created by separating the interest and principal payments generated by a pool of mortgage-backed securities or a collateralized mortgage obligation to create additional classes of securities. Generally, one class receives interest-only payments and another receives principal-only payments. Unlike other mortgage-backed securities and principal-only strips, the value of interest-only strips tends to move in the same direction as interest rates. The fund can use interest-only strips as a hedge against falling prepayment rates (when interest rates are rising) and/or in an unfavorable market environment. Principal-only strips can be used as a hedge against rising prepayment rates (when interest rates are falling) and/or in a favorable market environment. Interest-only strips and principal-only strips are acutely sensitive to interest rate changes and to the rate of principal prepayments.

A rapid or unexpected increase in prepayments can severely depress the price of interest-only strips, while a rapid or unexpected decrease in prepayments could have the same effect on principal-only strips. Of course, under the opposite conditions these securities may appreciate in value. These securities can be very volatile in price and may have lower overall liquidity than most other mortgage-backed securities. Certain non-stripped collateralized mortgage obligation classes may also exhibit these qualities, especially those that pay variable rates of interest that adjust inversely with, and more rapidly than, short-term interest rates. In addition, if interest rates rise rapidly and prepayment rates slow more than expected, certain collateralized mortgage obligation classes, in addition to losing value, can exhibit characteristics of long-term securities and become more volatile. There is no guarantee that the fund’s investments in collateralized mortgage obligations, interest-only strips, or principal-only strips will be successful, and the fund’s total return could be adversely affected as a result.

Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Commercial mortgage-backed securities are securities created from a pool of commercial mortgage loans, such as loans for hotels, shopping centers, office buildings, and apartment buildings. Interest and principal payments from the loans are passed on to the investor according to a schedule of payments. Credit quality depends primarily on the quality of the loans themselves and on the structure of the particular deal. Generally, deals are structured with senior and subordinate classes. The degree of subordination is determined by the rating agencies that rate the individual classes of the structure. Commercial mortgages are generally structured with prepayment penalties, which greatly reduce prepayment risk to the investor. However, the value of these securities may change because of actual or perceived changes in the creditworthiness of the individual borrowers, their tenants, the servicing agents, or the general state of commercial real estate.

Asset-Backed Securities

An underlying pool of assets, such as credit card or automobile trade receivables or corporate loans or bonds, backs these bonds and provides the interest and principal payments to investors. On occasion, the pool of assets may also include a swap obligation, which is used to change the cash flows on the underlying assets. As an example, a swap may be used to allow floating rate assets to back a fixed rate obligation. Credit quality depends primarily on the quality of the underlying assets, the level of any credit support provided by the structure or a


   

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line of credit, and the credit quality of the swap counterparty, if any. The underlying assets (i.e., loans) are sometimes subject to prepayments, which can shorten the security’s effective maturity and may lower its return. The value of these securities also may change because of actual or perceived changes in the creditworthiness of the individual borrowers, the originator, the servicing agent, the financial institution providing the credit support, or the swap counterparty. The fund will invest the loan proceeds in additional securities and other assets consistent with its investment program. Investments in asset-backed securities can include collateralized loan obligations, which take the form of a special purpose vehicle that owns a pool of loans and receives repayments and cash flows from those loans. The underlying loans are organized into tranches based on their risk profile, with cash flows generated by the underlying loans allocated so that each tranche has its own payment schedule and maturity.

High Yield Bonds

The price and yield of below investment-grade (high yield) bonds, including below investment-grade emerging market bonds, can be expected to fluctuate more than the price and yield of higher-quality bonds. Because these bonds are rated below BBB (or an equivalent rating) or are in default, they are regarded as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s continuing ability to meet principal and interest payments. Successful investment in lower-medium and low-quality bonds involves greater investment risk and is highly dependent on T. Rowe Price’s credit analysis. A real or perceived economic downturn or higher interest rates could cause a decline in high yield bond prices by lessening the ability of issuers to make principal and interest payments. These bonds are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than higher-quality bonds. Because objective pricing data may be less available, judgment may play a greater role in the valuation process. In addition, the entire high yield bond market can experience sudden and sharp price swings due to a variety of factors, including changes in economic forecasts, stock market activity, large or sustained sales by major investors, a high-profile default, or just a change in the market’s psychology.

Bank Loans

The fund may make investments in bank loans through the purchase or execution of a privately negotiated loan or note representing the equivalent of a loan, as well as through loan assignments and participations. Large loans to corporations or governments, including governments of less developed countries, may be shared or syndicated among several lenders, usually banks. The fund could participate in such syndicates or could buy part of a loan, becoming a direct lender. These loans may often be obligations of companies or governments in financial distress or in default. These investments involve special types of risk, including those of being a lender, reduced liquidity, increased credit risk, and volatility.

Bank loans may be acquired directly through an agent acting on behalf of the lenders participating in the loan, as an assignment from another lender who holds a direct interest in the loan, or as a participation interest in another lender’s portion of the loan. An assignment typically results in the purchaser succeeding to all rights and obligations under the loan agreement between the assigning lender and the borrower. However, assignments may be arranged through private negotiations, and the rights and obligations acquired by the


   

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purchaser of an assignment may differ from, and be more limited than, those held by the assigning lender.

A participation interest is a fractional interest in a loan, issued by a lender or other financial institution. To the extent the fund invests in loans through participation interests, it will be more difficult for it to enforce its rights against the borrower because it will have established a direct contractual relationship with the seller of the participation interest but not with the borrower. When the fund invests in a loan by participation, it must rely on another party not only for the enforcement of its rights against the borrower, but also for the receipt and processing of payments due under the loan. Investing in a participation interest limits the fund’s ability to file a claim directly as a creditor in the event of the borrower’s bankruptcy.

Derivatives

While most assets will typically be invested directly in bonds and other debt instruments, the fund also uses interest rate futures; interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, and currency swaps; forward currency exchange contracts; and options on any of those instruments to manage duration and tactically gain or limit exposure to certain areas of the markets. Interest rate futures are typically used to manage the fund’s exposure to interest rate changes or to adjust portfolio duration. Interest rate swaps are also used to adjust portfolio duration, credit default swaps can be used to protect the value of certain portfolio holdings, as an alternative to cash bonds, and to manage the fund’s overall credit risk exposure. Forward currency exchange contracts are used to gain exposure to certain currencies expected to increase or decrease in value relative to other currencies or to protect the fund’s foreign holdings from adverse currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar.

A derivative is a financial instrument whose value is derived from an underlying security, such as a stock or bond, or from a market benchmark, such as an interest rate index. Many types of investments representing a wide range of risks and potential rewards may be considered derivatives, including conventional instruments such as futures and options, as well as other potentially more complex investments such as swaps and structured notes. The use of derivatives can involve leverage. Leverage has the effect of magnifying returns, positively or negatively. The effect on returns will depend on the extent to which an investment is leveraged. For example, an investment of $1, leveraged at 2 to 1, would have the effect of an investment of $2. Leverage ratios can be higher or lower with a corresponding effect on returns. The fund may use derivatives in a variety of situations, including for the purposes of accomplishing any or all of the following: to hedge against a decline in principal value, to increase yield, to gain exposure to eligible asset classes or securities with greater efficiency and at a lower cost than is possible through a direct investment, or to adjust portfolio duration or credit risk exposures.

Derivatives that may be used include the following instruments, as well as others that combine the risk characteristics and features of these instruments:

Futures and Options Futures are often used to establish exposures or manage or hedge risk because they enable the investor to buy or sell an asset in the future at an agreed-upon price. Options may be used to generate additional income, to enhance returns, or as a defensive


   

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technique to protect against anticipated declines in the value of an asset. Call options give the investor the right to purchase (when the investor purchases the option), or the obligation to sell (when the investor “writes” or sells the option), an asset at a predetermined price in the future. Put options give the purchaser of the option the right to sell, or the seller (or “writer”) of the option the obligation to buy, an asset at a predetermined price in the future. Futures and options contracts may be bought or sold for any number of reasons, including to manage exposure to changes in interest rates, bond prices, foreign currencies, and credit quality; as an efficient means of increasing or decreasing the fund’s exposure to certain markets; in an effort to enhance income; to improve risk-adjusted returns; to protect the value of portfolio securities; and to serve as a cash management tool. Call or put options may be purchased or sold on securities, futures, financial indexes, and foreign currencies. The fund may choose to continue a futures contract by “rolling over” an expiring futures contract into an identical contract with a later maturity date. This could increase the fund’s transaction costs and portfolio turnover rate.

Futures and options contracts may not always be successful investments or hedges; their prices can be highly volatile; using them could lower the fund’s total return; the potential loss from the use of futures can exceed the fund’s initial investment in such contracts; and the losses from certain options written by the fund could be unlimited.

Swaps The fund may invest in interest rate, index, total return, credit default, and other types of swap agreements, as well as options on swaps, commonly referred to as “swaptions,” and interest rate swap futures, which are instruments that provide a way to obtain swap exposure and the benefits of futures in one contract. All of these agreements are considered derivatives and, in certain cases, high-risk derivatives. Interest rate, index, and total return swaps are two-party contracts under which the fund and a counterparty, such as a broker or dealer, agree to exchange the returns (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular predetermined investments or indexes. Credit default swaps are agreements where one party (the protection buyer) will make periodic payments to another party (the protection seller) in exchange for protection against specified credit events, such as defaults and bankruptcies related to an issuer or underlying credit instrument. Swap futures are futures contracts on interest rate swaps that enable purchasers to settle in cash at a future date at the price determined by a specific benchmark rate at the end of a fixed period. Swaps, swaptions, and swap futures can be used for a variety of purposes, including to manage the fund’s overall exposure to changes in interest or foreign currency exchange rates and credit quality; as an efficient means of adjusting the fund’s exposure to certain markets; in an effort to enhance income or total return or protect the value of portfolio securities; to serve as a cash management tool; and to adjust portfolio duration or credit risk exposure.

There are risks in the use of swaps and related instruments. Swaps could result in losses if interest or foreign currency exchange rates or credit quality changes are not correctly anticipated by the fund. Total return swaps could result in losses if the reference index, security, or investments do not perform as anticipated. Credit default swaps can increase the fund’s exposure to credit risk and could result in losses if evaluation of the creditworthiness of the counterparty, or of the company or government on which the credit default swap is based,


   

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is incorrect. The use of swaps, swaptions, and swap futures may not always be successful. Using them could lower the fund’s total return, their prices can be highly volatile, and the potential loss from the use of swaps can exceed the fund’s initial investment in such instruments. Also, the other party to a swap agreement could default on its obligations or refuse to cash out the fund’s investment at a reasonable price, which could turn an expected gain into a loss. Although there should be minimal counterparty risk associated with investments in interest rate swap futures, the fund could experience delays and/or losses due to the bankruptcy of a swap dealer through which the fund engaged in the transaction.

Currency Derivatives The fund may engage in foreign currency transactions either on a spot (cash) basis at the rate prevailing in the currency exchange market at the time or through forward currency exchange contracts, which are contracts between two counterparties to exchange one currency for another on a future date at a specified exchange rate. In addition to foreign currency forwards, futures, swaps, and options on foreign currencies may also be used to protect the fund’s foreign securities from adverse currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar, as well as to gain exposure to currencies and markets expected to increase or decrease in value relative to other currencies or securities.

The fund may attempt to hedge its exposure to potentially unfavorable currency changes. Forward currency contracts can be used to adjust the foreign exchange exposure of the fund with a view to protecting the portfolio from adverse currency movements, based on the investment adviser’s outlook. However, forward currency contracts can also be used in an effort to benefit from a currency believed to be appreciating in value versus other currencies. The fund may invest in non-U.S. currencies directly without holding any non-U.S. bonds or securities denominated in those currencies.

Forward currency contracts involve special risks, including, but not limited to, the potential for significant volatility in currency markets, and the risk that in certain markets, particularly emerging markets, it is not possible to engage in effective foreign currency hedging. In addition, such transactions involve the risk that currency movements will not occur as anticipated by the investment adviser, which could reduce the fund’s total return.

The fund may enter into foreign currency transactions under a number of circumstances, including the following:

Lock In When the fund desires to lock in the U.S. dollar price on the purchase or sale of a security denominated in a foreign currency.

Cross Hedge If a particular currency is expected to decrease in value relative to another currency, the fund may sell the currency expected to decrease and purchase a currency that is expected to increase against the currency sold. The fund’s cross hedging transactions may involve currencies in which the fund’s holdings are denominated. However, the fund is not required to own securities in the particular currency being purchased or sold.

Direct Hedge If the fund seeks to eliminate substantially all of the risk of owning a particular currency or believes the portfolio could benefit from price appreciation in a given country’s bonds but did not want to hold the currency, it could employ a direct hedge back into the U.S.


   

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dollar. In either case, the fund would enter into a forward contract to sell the currency in which a portfolio security is denominated and purchase U.S. dollars at an exchange rate established at the time it initiated the contract. The cost of the direct hedge transaction may offset most, if not all, of the yield advantage offered by the foreign security, but the fund would hope to benefit from an increase (if any) in the value of the bond.

Proxy Hedge In certain circumstances, a different currency may be substituted for the currency in which the investment is denominated, as part of a strategy known as proxy hedging. In this case, the fund, having purchased a security, will sell a currency whose value is believed to be closely linked to the currency in which the security is denominated. This type of hedging entails greater risk than a direct hedge because it is dependent on a stable relationship between the two currencies paired as proxies, and that relationship may not always be maintained. The fund may also use these instruments to create a synthetic bond, which is issued in one currency with the currency component transformed into another currency.

Costs of Hedging When the fund purchases a foreign bond with a higher interest rate than is available on U.S. bonds of a similar maturity, the additional yield on the foreign bond could be substantially lessened if the fund were to enter into a direct hedge by selling the foreign currency and purchasing the U.S. dollar. This is what is known as the “cost” of hedging. A proxy hedge, which is less costly than a direct hedge, may attempt to reduce this cost through an indirect hedge back to the U.S. dollar. It is important to note that hedging costs are treated as capital transactions and are not, therefore, deducted from the fund’s dividend distribution and are not reflected in its yield. Instead, such costs will, over time, be reflected in the fund’s net asset value per share and total return. Hedging may result in the application of the mark-to-market and straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. These provisions could result in an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the fund and could affect whether dividends paid by the fund are classified as capital gains or ordinary income.

When-Issued Securities and Forwards

The fund may purchase securities on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis or may purchase or sell securities on a forward commitment basis. There is no limit on the fund’s investments in these securities. The price of these securities is fixed at the time of the commitment to buy, but delivery and payment take place after the customary settlement period for that type of security (often a month or more later). During the interim period, the price and yield of the securities can fluctuate, and typically no interest accrues to the purchaser. At the time of delivery, the market value of the securities may be more or less than the purchase or sale price. To the extent the fund remains fully or almost fully invested (in securities with a remaining maturity of more than one year) at the same time it purchases these securities, there will be greater fluctuations in the fund’s net asset value than if the fund did not purchase them.


   

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Principal Risks

The principal risks associated with the fund’s principal investment strategies, which may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions, include the following:

Fixed income markets The market price of investments owned by the fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The fund’s investments may decline in value due to factors affecting the overall fixed income markets or particular industries or sectors. The value of a holding may decline due to developments related to a particular issuer, but also due to general fixed income market conditions, including real or perceived adverse economic developments, such as changes in interest rates, credit quality, inflation, or currency rates, or generally adverse investor sentiment. The value of a holding may also decline due to factors that negatively affect a particular industry, such as labor shortages, increased production costs, or competitive conditions. The fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause it to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value.

Market conditions The value of investments held by the fund may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting certain issuers, particular industries or sectors, or the overall markets. Rapid or unexpected changes in market conditions could cause the fund to liquidate its holdings at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. The value of a particular holding may decrease due to developments related to that issuer but also due to general market conditions, including real or perceived economic developments, such as changes in interest rates, credit quality, inflation, or currency rates, or generally adverse investor sentiment. The value of a holding may also decline due to factors that negatively affect a particular industry or sector, such as labor shortages, increased production costs, or competitive conditions. In addition, local, regional, or global events such as war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, political and social unrest, regulatory changes, recessions, shifts in monetary or trade policies, natural or environmental disasters, and the spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues could have a significant negative impact on securities markets and the fund’s investments. Any of these events may lead to unexpected suspensions or closures of securities exchanges; travel restrictions or quarantines; business disruptions and closures; inability to obtain raw materials, supplies and component parts; reduced or disrupted operations for the fund’s service providers or issuers in which the fund invests; and an extended adverse impact on global market conditions. Government intervention (including sanctions) in markets may impact interest rates, market volatility, and security pricing. The occurrence of any of these events could adversely affect the economies (including through changes in business activity and increased unemployment) and financial markets of specific countries or worldwide.

Interest rates The prices of bonds and other fixed income securities typically increase as interest rates fall, and prices typically decrease as interest rates rise (bond prices and interest rates usually move in opposite directions). Prices fall because the bonds and notes in the fund’s portfolio become less attractive to other investors when securities with higher yields become available. Generally, funds with longer weighted average maturities (i.e., an average of the maturities of the underlying debt instruments, “weighted” by the percentage of the fund’s


   

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assets it represents) and durations (i.e., the measure of the price sensitivity of a fund to changes in interest rates) carry greater interest rate risk. As a result, in a rising interest rate environment, the net asset value of a fund with a longer weighted average maturity or duration typically decreases at a faster rate than the net asset value of a fund with a shorter weighted average maturity or duration. In addition, recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and/or governments are likely to affect the level of interest rates. The discontinuation and replacement of a benchmark rate such as LIBOR (an indicative measure of the average interest rate at which major global banks could borrow from one another) may have a significant impact on the financial markets and may adversely impact the fund’s performance. Extremely low or negative interest rates may increase an underlying fund’s susceptibility to interest rate risk and reduce the fund’s yield. Interest rates have recently been near historically low levels, but interest rates and inflation have been steadily rising. As a result, rapid changes in interest rates may increase the fund’s overall exposure to interest rate risk.

Prepayments and extensions A fund investing in mortgage-backed securities, certain asset-backed securities, and other debt instruments that have embedded call options can be negatively impacted when interest rates fall because borrowers tend to refinance and prepay principal. Receiving increasing prepayments in a falling interest rate environment causes the average maturity of the portfolio to shorten, reducing its potential for price gains. It also requires the fund to reinvest proceeds at lower interest rates, which reduces the fund’s total return and yield, and could result in a loss if bond prices fall below the level that the fund paid for them. A rise in interest rates or lack of refinancing opportunities can cause the fund’s average maturity to lengthen unexpectedly due to a drop in expected prepayments of mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and callable debt instruments. This would increase the fund’s sensitivity to rising rates and its potential for price declines.

LIBOR transition Many financial instruments use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate, or “LIBOR,” which is the offered rate for short-term Eurodollar deposits between major international banks. While publication for most LIBOR currencies and lesser-used USD LIBOR settings ceased immediately after December 31, 2021, remaining USD LIBOR settings will continue to be published until June 30, 2023. There remains uncertainty regarding the future utilization of LIBOR and the nature of any replacement rate. As such, the potential impact of a transition away from LIBOR on the fund or the financial instruments in which the fund invests cannot yet be determined. The elimination of LIBOR or changes to other reference rates or any other changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of reference rates could have an adverse impact on the market for, or value of, any securities or payments linked to those reference rates, which may adversely affect the fund’s performance and/or net asset value. Furthermore, the risks associated with the expected discontinuation of LIBOR and transition may be exacerbated if the work necessary to effect an orderly transition to an alternative reference rate is not completed in a timely manner. Because the usefulness of LIBOR as a benchmark could deteriorate during the transition period, these effects could occur until the anticipated discontinuance date in 2023 for the majority of the LIBOR rates.


   

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Foreign investing The fund’s investments outside the U.S. are subject to special risks, whether the securities (including depositary receipts and other instruments that represent interests in a non-U.S. issuer) are denominated in U.S. dollars or foreign currencies. These risks include potentially adverse local, political, social, and economic conditions overseas; greater volatility; lower liquidity; and the possibility that settlement practices and regulatory and accounting standards will differ from those of U.S. issuers. Foreign currencies could decline against the U.S. dollar, lowering the value of securities denominated in those currencies and possibly the fund’s share price. These risks are heightened for any investments in emerging markets, which are more susceptible to governmental interference, less efficient trading markets, and the imposition of local taxes or restrictions on gaining access to sales proceeds for foreign investors.

Emerging markets Investments in emerging markets are subject to the risk of abrupt and severe price declines. The economic and political structures of emerging market countries, in most cases, do not compare favorably with the U.S. or other developed countries in terms of wealth and stability, and their financial markets often lack liquidity. These economies are less developed, can be overly reliant on particular industries, and are more vulnerable to the ebb and flow of international trade, trade barriers, and other protectionist or retaliatory measures. Governments in many emerging market countries participate to a significant degree in their economies and securities markets. As a result, foreign investments may be restricted and subject to greater government control, including repatriation of sales proceeds. Emerging market securities exchanges are more likely to experience problems with the clearing and settling of trades, as well as the custody of holdings by local banks, agents, and depositories. In addition, the accounting standards in emerging market countries may be unreliable and could present an inaccurate picture of a company’s finances. Some countries have histories of instability and upheaval that could cause their governments to act in a detrimental or hostile manner toward private enterprise or foreign investment. Investments in countries or regions that have recently begun moving away from central planning and state-owned industries toward free markets should be regarded as speculative.

While some countries have made progress in economic growth, liberalization, fiscal discipline, and political and social stability, there is no assurance these trends will continue. Significant risks, such as war and terrorism, currently affect some emerging market countries. The fund’s performance will likely be hurt by exposure to nations in the midst of hyperinflation, currency devaluation, trade disagreements, sudden political upheaval, or interventionist government policies. The volatility of emerging markets may be heightened by the actions (such as significant buying or selling) of a few major investors. For example, substantial increases or decreases in cash flows of funds investing in these markets could significantly affect local securities prices and, therefore, could cause fund share prices to decline.

Credit quality An issuer of a debt instrument held by the fund could default (fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), potentially reducing the fund’s income and share price. Credit risk is increased when portfolio holdings are downgraded or the perceived financial condition of an issuer deteriorates. Holdings with an investment-grade rating (AAA through BBB, or an equivalent rating) should have a relatively low risk of encountering


   

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financial problems and a relatively high probability of future payments. However, holdings rated BBB (or an equivalent rating) are more susceptible to adverse economic conditions than other investment-grade holdings and may have speculative characteristics. Holdings rated below investment grade should be regarded as speculative because their issuers may be more susceptible to financial setbacks and recession than more creditworthy issuers (commonly referred to as “junk”).

Junk investing Junk investing subjects the fund to heightened credit risk. Issuers of junk bonds are not as strong financially as those with higher credit ratings, so the issuers are more vulnerable to financial setbacks and recession than more creditworthy issuers, which may impair their ability to make interest and principal payments. As a result, below investment-grade investments carry greater risks of default and erratic price swings due to real or perceived changes in the credit quality of the issuer.

Because the credit quality of the issuer is lower, such bonds are more sensitive to developments affecting the issuer’s underlying fundamentals, such as changes in financial condition or a particular country’s general economy. In addition, the entire below investment-grade bond market can experience sudden and sharp price swings due to a variety of factors, including changes in economic forecasts, stock market activity, large sustained sales by institutional investors, a high-profile default, or a change in the market’s psychology. This type of volatility is usually associated more with stocks than bonds, but investors in lower-quality bonds should also anticipate it. Since funds can be a major source of demand in certain junk bond markets, substantial cash flows into and out of these funds can affect junk bond prices. If, for example, a significant number of funds were to sell bonds to meet shareholder redemptions, both bond prices and funds’ share prices could fall more than underlying fundamentals might justify.

Any investments in distressed or defaulted securities subject the fund to even greater credit risk than investments in other below investment-grade investments. Investments in obligations of restructured, distressed, and bankrupt issuers, including debt obligations that are already in default, generally trade significantly below par and may lack liquidity. Defaulted securities might be repaid only after lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, during which the issuer might not make any interest or other payments, and such proceedings may result in only partial recovery of principal or no recovery at all. Recovery could involve an exchange of the defaulted obligation for other debt instruments or equity securities of the issuer or its affiliates, each of which may in turn lack liquidity or be speculative and be valued by the fund at significantly less than its original purchase price. In addition, investments in distressed issuers may subject the fund to liability as a lender.

Bank loans Bank loans often have contractual restrictions on resale. These restrictions can delay or impede the fund’s ability to sell loans and may adversely affect the price that can be obtained. Loans and unlisted securities are typically less liquid than securities traded on national exchanges. The secondary market for loans may be subject to irregular trading activity and extended settlement periods, and the liquidity of bank loans can vary significantly over time. For example, if the credit quality of a bank loan unexpectedly declines significantly, secondary market trading in that floating rate loan can also decline. During periods of


   

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infrequent trading, valuing a bank loan can be more difficult and buying or selling a loan at an acceptable price may not be possible or may be delayed.

The terms of the bank loans held by the fund may require that the borrowing company maintain collateral to support payment of its obligations. However, the value of the collateral securing a bank loan can decline or be insufficient to meet the obligations of the company. In addition, collateral securing a loan may be found invalid, may be used to pay other outstanding obligations of the borrower, or may be difficult to liquidate. The fund’s access to the collateral may be limited by bankruptcy, other insolvency laws, or by the type of loan the fund has purchased. For example, if the fund purchases a participation interest instead of an assignment, it would not have direct access to collateral of the borrower. As a result, a bank loan may not be fully collateralized and can decline significantly in value.

Derivatives The use of interest rate futures, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, currency swaps, forward currency exchange contracts, and options expose the fund to additional volatility in comparison to investing directly in bonds and other debt instruments. These instruments can experience reduced liquidity and become difficult to value, and any of these instruments not traded on an exchange are subject to the risk that a counterparty to the transaction will fail to meet its obligations under the derivatives contract. The use of these instruments involves the risks that anticipated interest rate movements and changes in currency exchange rates will not be accurately predicted. Interest rates and yield curves vary from country to country depending on local economic conditions and monetary and fiscal policies, and interest rate changes and their impact tend to be more difficult to predict for foreign countries, particularly emerging market countries. Any efforts at buying or selling currencies could result in significant losses for the fund and, if the fund takes a short position in a particular currency, it will lose money if the currency appreciates in value. Further, if the fund’s foreign currency transactions are intended to hedge the currency risk associated with investing in foreign securities and minimize the risk of loss that would result from a decline in the value of the hedged currency, these transactions also may limit any potential gain that might result should the value of such currency increase. The use of credit default swaps exposes the fund to the risk of losses and the risk that anticipated changes in the creditworthiness of an issuer or the likelihood of a credit event will not be accurately predicted. If the fund buys a credit default swap and no credit event occurs, the fund may recover nothing if the swap is held through its termination date. Regulations could significantly impact the fund’s ability to invest in specific types of derivatives, which could limit the fund’s ability to employ certain strategies that use derivatives and make their use by funds more costly.

TBAs and dollar rolls TBA and dollar roll transactions present special risks to the fund. Although the particular TBA securities must meet industry-accepted “good delivery” standards, there can be no assurance that a security purchased on a forward commitment basis will ultimately be issued or delivered by the counterparty. During the settlement period, the fund will still bear the risk of any decline in the value of the security to be delivered. TBAs and other forward settling securities involve leverage because they can provide investment exposure in an amount exceeding the fund’s initial investment. Leverage can magnify investment risks and cause losses to be realized more quickly. While dollar roll transactions involve the


   

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simultaneous purchase and sale of substantially similar TBA securities with different settlement dates, these transactions do not require the purchase and sale of identical securities so the characteristics of the security delivered to the fund may be less favorable than the security delivered to the dealer.

Liquidity The fund may not be able to meet requests to redeem shares issued by the fund without significant dilution of the remaining shareholders’ interests in the fund. In addition, the fund may not be able to sell a holding in a timely manner at a desired price. Sectors of the bond market can experience sudden downturns in trading activity. During periods of reduced market liquidity, the spread between the price at which a security can be bought and the price at which it can be sold can widen, and the fund may not be able to sell a holding readily at a price that reflects what the fund believes it should be worth. Securities with lower overall liquidity can also become more difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be the result of, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional broker-dealers to make a market in fixed income securities or the lack of an active market. The potential for liquidity risk may be magnified by a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where selling activity from fixed income investors may be higher than normal, potentially causing increased supply in the market.

Portfolio turnover Generally, the higher the portfolio turnover rate, the higher the overall transaction costs and the greater the potential impact on the fund’s total return. High portfolio turnover results in increased transaction costs to the fund, which may include dealer mark-ups, brokerage commissions, and other transaction costs related to the sale of holdings and reinvestment of the proceeds in other holdings. The fund’s portfolio turnover rate may vary from year to year due to fluctuations in the levels of shareholder purchase and redemption activity, shifts in market conditions or evaluations of industries or specific issuers, and/or changes in the portfolio manager’s overall investment outlook. Since bonds typically have a maturity date and will eventually require reinvestment, funds investing primarily in bonds tend to have higher portfolio turnover than funds investing primarily in stocks. For funds investing in shorter-term securities, mortgage-backed securities, and callable debt instruments, more frequent reinvestment of principal is typically required. Certain investment strategies, such as sector rotation and duration management, may necessitate more frequent trading, and the use of certain types of derivatives may significantly increase the fund’s portfolio turnover rate.

Authorized Participant Only Authorized Participants may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the fund. The fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants. Authorized Participants have no obligation to submit creation or redemption orders, and there is no assurance that Authorized Participants will establish or maintain an active trading market for shares. This risk may be heightened to the extent that securities held by the fund are traded outside a collateralized settlement system. In that case, Authorized Participants may be required to post collateral on certain trades on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants), which only a limited number of Authorized Participants may be able to do. In addition, to the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation


   

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Units, this may result in a significantly diminished trading market for shares, and shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to the fund’s NAV and to face trading halts and/or delisting. Investments in non-U.S. securities, which may have lower trading volumes, may increase this risk. If the fund effects its creations or redemptions at least partially or fully for cash, rather than in-kind securities, the fund may incur certain costs, including brokerage costs in connection with investing cash received and may recognize capital gains in connection with cash redemptions. In addition, costs could be imposed on the fund which would have the effect of decreasing the fund’s net asset value to the extent the costs are not offset by a transaction fee payable by an Authorized Participant.

New fund Because the fund is new, it has a relatively small number of shareholders and assets under management. As a result, the portfolio manager may experience difficulties in fully implementing the fund’s investment program and may be less able to respond to increases in shareholder transaction activity. The fund’s limited operating history could make it more difficult to evaluate the performance of the portfolio manager and the fund’s investment strategies. In addition, there can be no assurance that the fund will ultimately grow to an economically viable size, which could lead to the fund eventually ceasing its operations.

Active management The investment adviser’s judgments about the attractiveness, value, or potential appreciation of the fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. The fund could underperform other funds with a similar benchmark or similar investment program if the fund’s investment selections or overall strategies fail to produce the intended results. Regulatory, tax, or other developments may affect the investment strategies available to a portfolio manager, which could adversely affect the ability to implement the fund’s overall investment program and achieve the fund’s investment objective(s).

Cybersecurity breaches The fund may be subject to operational and information security risks resulting from breaches in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity breaches may involve deliberate attacks and unauthorized access to the digital information systems (for example, through “hacking” or malicious software coding) used by the fund, its investment adviser and subadviser(s) (as applicable), or its third-party service providers but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks, which are efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. These breaches may, among other things, result in financial losses to the fund and its shareholders, cause the fund to lose proprietary information, disrupt business operations, or result in the unauthorized release of confidential information. Further, cybersecurity breaches involving the fund’s third-party service providers, financial intermediaries, trading counterparties, or issuers in which the fund invests could subject the fund to many of the same risks associated with direct breaches.

Additional Investment Management Practices

The SAI contains more detailed information about the fund and its investments, operations, and expenses. The fund’s investments may be subject to further restrictions and risks described in the SAI.


   

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Investments in Other Investment Companies

The fund may invest in other investment companies, including open-end funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds, subject to any applicable limitations under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

The fund may purchase the securities of another investment company to temporarily gain exposure to a portion of the market while awaiting the purchase of securities or as an efficient means of gaining exposure to a particular asset class. The fund might also purchase shares of another investment company, including shares of other T. Rowe Price Funds, to gain exposure to the securities in the investment company’s portfolio at times when the fund may not be able to buy those securities directly, or as a means of gaining efficient and cost-effective exposure to certain asset classes. Any investment in another investment company would be consistent with the fund’s objective(s) and investment program.

The risks of owning another investment company are generally similar to the risks of investing directly in the securities in which that investment company invests. However, an investment company may not achieve its investment objective or execute its investment strategy effectively, which may adversely affect the fund’s performance. In addition, because closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds trade on a secondary market, their shares may trade at a premium or discount to the actual net asset value of their portfolio securities, and their shares may have greater volatility if an active trading market does not exist.

As a shareholder of another investment company, the fund must pay its pro-rata share of that investment company’s fees and expenses. If the fund invests in another T. Rowe Price Fund, the management fee paid by the fund will be reduced to ensure that the fund does not incur duplicate management fees as a result of its investment.

Investments in other investment companies could allow the fund to obtain the benefits of a more diversified portfolio than might otherwise be available through direct investments in a particular asset class and will subject the fund to the risks associated with the particular asset class or asset classes in which an underlying fund invests. Examples of asset classes in which other investment companies (including T. Rowe Price Funds) focus their investments include high yield bonds, inflation-linked securities, floating rate loans, international bonds, emerging market bonds, stocks of companies involved in activities related to real assets, stocks of companies that focus on a particular industry or sector, and emerging market stocks.

Illiquid Investments

Some of the fund’s holdings may be considered illiquid because they are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale or because they cannot reasonably be expected to be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. The determination of liquidity involves a variety of factors. Illiquid investments may include private placements that are sold directly to a small number of investors, usually institutions. Unlike public offerings, such securities are not registered with the SEC. Although certain of these securities may be readily sold (for example, pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933) and


   

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therefore deemed liquid, others may have resale restrictions and be considered illiquid. The sale of illiquid investments may involve substantial delays and additional costs, and the fund may only be able to sell such investments at prices substantially lower than what it believes they are worth. In addition, the fund’s investments in illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the fund because it may be unable to sell such investments at an advantageous time, which could prevent the fund from taking advantage of other investment opportunities.

Temporary Defensive Position

In order to respond to adverse market, economic, or political conditions, or to provide flexibility in meeting redemptions, paying expenses, managing cash flows into the fund, and responding to periods of unusual market volatility, the fund may assume a temporary defensive position that is inconsistent with its principal investment objective(s) and/or strategies.

Reserve Position

A certain portion of the fund’s assets may be held in reserves. The fund’s reserve positions will typically consist of: (1) shares of a T. Rowe Price internal money market fund or short-term bond fund (which do not charge any management fees and are not available for public purchase); (2) short-term, high-quality U.S. and non-U.S. dollar-denominated money market securities, including repurchase agreements; and (3) U.S. dollar or non-U.S. dollar currencies. If the fund has significant holdings in reserves, it could compromise its ability to achieve its objective(s). Non-U.S. dollar reserves are subject to currency risk.

Borrowing Money and Transferring Assets

The fund may borrow from banks, other persons, and other T. Rowe Price Funds for temporary or emergency purposes, to facilitate redemption requests, or for other purposes consistent with the fund’s policies as set forth in this prospectus and the SAI. Such borrowings may be collateralized with the fund’s assets, subject to certain restrictions.

Borrowings may not exceed 33⅓% of the fund’s total assets. This limitation includes any borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, applies at the time of the transaction, and continues to the extent required by the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Lending of Portfolio Securities

The fund may lend its securities to broker-dealers, other institutions, or other persons to earn additional income. Risks include the potential insolvency of the broker-dealer or other borrower that could result in delays in recovering securities and capital losses. Additionally, losses could result from the reinvestment of collateral received on loaned securities in investments that decline in value, default, or do not perform as well as expected. Cash collateral from securities lending is invested in a T. Rowe Price short-term bond or money market fund.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

Turnover is an indication of frequency of trading. Each time the fund purchases or sells a security, it incurs a cost. This cost is reflected in the fund’s net asset value but not in its


   

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operating expenses. The higher the turnover rate, the higher the transaction costs and the greater the impact on the fund’s total return. Higher turnover can also increase the possibility of taxable capital gain distributions. The fund’s portfolio turnover rate is shown in the Financial Highlights table.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

The Financial Highlights table, which provides information about the fund’s financial history, is based on a single share outstanding throughout the periods shown. The table is part of the fund’s financial statements, which are included in its annual report and are incorporated by reference into the SAI (available upon request). The financial statements in the annual report were audited by the fund’s independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.


   

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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

For a share outstanding throughout each period

   

 

9/28/21(1)
Through

 

5/31/22

NET ASSET VALUE

 

Beginning of period

$ 50.00

Investment activities

 

Net investment income(2) (3)

 0.78

Net realized and unrealized gain/loss

 (5.74)

Total from investment activities

 (4.96)

Distributions

 

Net investment income

 (0.74)

NET ASSET VALUE

 

End of period

$ 44.30

Ratios/Supplemental Data

Total return, based on NAV(3) (4)

  (10.08)%

Ratios to average net
assets:(3)

 

Gross expenses before
waivers/payments by
Price Associates

 0.31%(5)

Net expenses after
waivers/payments by
Price Associates

 0.31%(5)

Net investment income

 2.42%(5)

Portfolio turnover rate(6)

  456.8%

Portfolio turnover rate, excluding mortgage dollar roll transactions

 45.1%

Net assets, end of period
(in thousands)

$ 19,933

   

(1)

Inception date

(2)

Per share amounts calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(3)

Includes the impact of expense-related arrangements with Price Associates.

(4)

Total return reflects the rate that an investor would have earned on an investment in the fund during the period, assuming reinvestment of all distributions. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year.

(5)

Annualized

(6)

The portfolio turnover rate calculation includes purchases and sales from the mortgage dollar roll transactions.


   

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DISCLOSURE OF FUND PORTFOLIO INFORMATION

The fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at troweprice.com. A description of the fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of portfolio information is available in the SAI.


     

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Additional Information About the Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Fund shares are issued or redeemed only in large blocks of 25,000 fund shares (previously defined as “Creation Units”) and only to financial institutions known as Authorized Participants, in accordance with procedures described in the SAI. Creation Unit transactions are conducted in exchange for the deposit or delivery of a designated basket of in-kind securities and/or cash at NAV next determined after receipt of an order in proper form. Creation Unit transactions may be made on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open for business.

Individual shares may be purchased and sold only on a national securities exchange through brokers. Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc., and they may be sold at a premium or discount to NAV. When purchasing or redeeming Creation Units, Authorized Participants are required to pay a fixed purchase or redemption transaction fee as well as any applicable additional variable charge, as described in the SAI.

Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cutoff times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) and the applicable transaction fees is included in the fund’s SAI.

Meeting Redemption Requests

The fund anticipates regularly meeting redemption requests by delivering a combination of in-kind redemptions and cash. The fund reserves the right to pay redemption proceeds to an Authorized Participant entirely or partly in cash.

Cash used for redemptions will be raised from the sale of portfolio assets or may come from existing holdings of cash or cash equivalents. The fund, along with other T. Rowe Price Funds, is a party to an interfund lending exemptive order received from the SEC that permits the T. Rowe Price Funds to borrow money from and/or lend money to other T. Rowe Price Funds to help the funds meet short-term redemptions and liquidity needs. In certain circumstances, the T. Rowe Price Funds may also meet redemption requests through an overdraft of the fund’s account with its custodian. During periods of deteriorating or stressed market conditions, when an increased portion of the fund’s portfolio may be composed of holdings with reduced liquidity or lengthy settlement periods, or during extraordinary or emergency circumstances, the fund may be more likely to pay redemption proceeds with cash obtained through interfund lending or short-term borrowing arrangements (if available).

Under normal circumstances, the fund will pay out redemption proceeds to a redeeming Authorized Participant within two days after the Authorized Participant’s redemption request is received, in accordance with the process set forth in the fund’s SAI and in the agreement between the Authorized Participant and the fund’s distributor. However, the fund reserves the right, including under stressed market conditions, to take up to seven days after the receipt of a redemption request to pay an Authorized Participant, as permitted by the Investment Company Act of 1940. With respect to redemptions that include foreign investments, the fund


   

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may pay out redemption proceeds or deliver the securities up to 15 days after the receipt of a redemption request.

Pricing of Individual Fund Shares

Market Price The trading prices of a fund’s shares in the secondary market (Market Price) generally differ from the fund’s daily NAV per share and are affected by market forces such as supply and demand, economic conditions, and other factors. NAV is the price per share at which the fund issues and redeems shares to Authorized Participants in Creation Units (see “Net Asset Value” below). The fund’s Market Price is based on either the “Closing Price” of shares, which is the official closing price of shares on the fund’s listing exchange or, if more accurate than the Closing Price, the “Bid/Ask Price,” which is the midpoint of the highest bid and lowest offer on the “National Best Bid and Offer” at the time that the fund’s NAV is calculated. The National Best Bid and Offer is the current national best bid and national best offer as disseminated by the Consolidated Quotation System or UTP Plan Securities Information Processor. You 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”). Please refer to the fund’s website for additional information (troweprice.com).

Net Asset Value To calculate the fund’s NAV, the fund’s assets are valued and totaled; liabilities are subtracted; and the balance, called net assets, is divided by the number of the fund’s shares outstanding. On each day that the NYSE is open, fund shares are ordinarily valued as of the close of regular trading. Information that becomes known to the fund or its agents after the time as of which NAV has been calculated on a particular day will not generally be used to retroactively adjust the price of a security or the NAV determined earlier that day. The fund reserves the right to change the time its NAV is calculated if the fund or NYSE closes earlier, or as permitted by the SEC.

The fund’s NAV is based on the fund’s portfolio holdings. Market values are used to price portfolio holdings for which market quotations are readily available. Market values generally reflect the prices at which securities actually trade or represent prices that have been adjusted based on evaluations and information provided by the fund’s pricing services. Investments in mutual funds are valued at the closing net asset value per share of the mutual fund on the day of valuation. If a market value for a portfolio holding is not available or normal valuation procedures are deemed to be inappropriate, the fund will make a good faith effort to assign a fair value to the holding by taking into account various factors and methodologies that have been approved by the fund’s Board. This value may differ from the value the fund receives upon sale of the securities.

Non-U.S. equity securities are valued on the basis of their most recent closing market prices at 4 p.m. ET, except under the following circumstances. Most foreign markets close before 4 p.m. ET. For example, the most recent closing prices for securities traded in certain Asian markets may be as much as 15 hours old at 4 p.m. ET. If a fund determines that developments between the close of a foreign market and the close of the NYSE will affect the value of some or all of the


   

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fund’s securities, the fund will adjust the previous closing prices to reflect what it believes to be the fair value of the securities as of 4 p.m. ET. In deciding whether to make these adjustments, the fund reviews a variety of factors, including developments in foreign markets, the performance of U.S. securities markets, and the performance of instruments trading in U.S. markets that represent foreign securities and baskets of foreign securities.

A fund may also fair value certain securities or a group of securities in other situations—for example, when a particular foreign market is closed but the fund is open. For a fund that has investments in securities that are primarily listed on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other days when the fund does not price its shares, the fund’s NAV may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem the fund’s shares. If an event occurs that affects the value of a security after the close of the market, such as a default of a commercial paper issuer or a significant move in short-term interest rates, a fund may make a price adjustment depending on the nature and significance of the event. The funds also evaluate a variety of factors when assigning fair values to private placements and other restricted securities. Other funds may adjust the prices of their securities by different amounts or assign different fair values than the fair value that the fund assigns to the same security.

The funds use various pricing services to obtain closing market prices, as well as information used to adjust those prices and to value most fixed income securities. A fund cannot predict how often it will use closing prices or how often it will adjust those prices. As a means of evaluating its fair value process, the fund routinely compares closing market prices, the next day’s opening prices in the same markets, and adjusted prices.

Premiums and Discounts A premium is the amount that a fund is trading above the reported NAV, expressed as a percentage of the NAV. A discount is the amount that a fund is trading below the reported NAV, expressed as a percentage of the NAV. The fund’s premium/discount is calculated daily as of the end of a trading day based on the Closing Price or, if more accurate, the Bid/Ask Price on a given trading day. A discount or premium could be significant. The NAV of a fund will fluctuate with changes in the market value of its portfolio holdings. The Market Price of a fund will fluctuate in accordance with changes in its NAV, as well as market supply and demand. In stressed market conditions, the market for fund shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the fund’s underlying portfolio holdings. To the extent securities held by the fund trade in a market that is closed when the exchange on which the fund’s shares trade is open, there may be deviations between the current price of a security and the last quoted price for the security in the closed foreign market. These adverse effects may in turn lead to wider bid/ask spread or premiums with the result that investors may receive less than the underlying value of the fund shares bought or sold or less. Information regarding the fund’s premiums and discounts can be found at troweprice.com.

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares

The Board has not adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of the fund’s shares because the fund sells and redeems shares at NAV only in Creation Units, pursuant to the terms of the agreement between the


   

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Authorized Participant and the fund’s distributor, and such direct trading between the fund and Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the vast majority of trading in fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the fund directly and, therefore, does not cause the fund to experience many of the harmful effects of market timing, such as dilution and disruption of portfolio management. In addition, the fund may impose a transaction fee on Creation Unit transactions, which is designed to offset transfer and other transaction costs incurred by the fund in connection with the issuance and redemption of Creation Units, and may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize potential dilution from market timing. The fund reserves the right to reject any purchase order at any time and reserves the right to impose restrictions on disruptive, excessive, or short-term trading.

Compensation to Financial Intermediaries

T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor will, at their own expense, provide compensation to certain financial intermediaries that have sold shares of or provide shareholder or other services to the T. Rowe Price Funds, commonly referred to as revenue sharing. These payments may be in the form of asset-based, transaction-based, or flat payments. These payments are used to compensate third parties for distribution, shareholder servicing, or other services. Some of these payments may include expense reimbursements and meeting and marketing support payments (out of T. Rowe Price’s or the fund’s distributor’s own resources and not as an expense of the funds) to financial intermediaries, such as broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, or banks, in connection with the sale, distribution, marketing, and/or servicing of the T. Rowe Price Funds. The SAI provides more information about these payment arrangements.

The receipt of, or the prospect of receiving, these payments and expense reimbursements from T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor may influence financial intermediaries, plan sponsors, and other third parties to offer or recommend T. Rowe Price Funds over other investment options for which an intermediary does not receive additional compensation (or receives lower levels of additional compensation). In addition, financial intermediaries that receive these payments and/or expense reimbursements may elevate the prominence of the T. Rowe Price Funds by, for example, placing the T. Rowe Price Funds on a list of preferred or recommended funds and/or providing preferential or enhanced opportunities to promote the T. Rowe Price Funds in various ways. Since these additional payments are not paid by a fund directly, these arrangements do not increase fund expenses and will not change the price that an investor pays for shares of the T. Rowe Price Funds or the amount that is invested in a T. Rowe Price Fund on behalf of an investor. You may ask your financial intermediary for more information about any payments they receive from T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor.

Dividends and Distributions

The fund distributes substantially all of its net investment income, if any, to shareholders in the form of dividends. In addition, the fund distributes any net capital gains earned from the sale of portfolio securities to shareholders no less frequently than annually. Dividend payments are


   

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made through Depository Trust Company (DTC) participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the fund.

To the extent possible, all net investment income and realized capital gains are distributed to shareholders. Your share of the distributions is based on the number of shares of the fund outstanding on the record date. Therefore, if the fund has experienced a net redemption during the year, your share of the distributions may become relatively higher due to the smaller number of shares outstanding on the record date. See also “Taxes on Fund Distributions” below.

The following table provides details on dividend payments:

   

Dividend Payment Schedule

Fund

Dividends

All funds

· Dividends, if any, are declared and paid monthly.

· If necessary, a fund may make additional distributions on short notice to minimize any fund-level tax liabilities.

No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the fund. Financial intermediaries may make available the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service for use by beneficial owners of fund shares for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their financial intermediary to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein.

Tax Consequences

The following information is meant as a general summary for U.S. taxpayers. You should rely on your own tax adviser for advice about the particular federal, state, and local tax consequences to you of investing in the fund. Your financial intermediary is responsible for providing you with any necessary tax forms. You should contact your financial intermediary for the tax information that will be sent to you and reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

In most cases, your financial intermediary will provide information for your tax filing needs no later than mid-February.

If you invest in the fund through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan, you will not be subject to tax on dividends and distributions from the fund or the sale of fund shares if those amounts remain in the tax-deferred account. You may receive a Form 1099-R or other Internal Revenue Service forms, as applicable, if any portion of the account is distributed to you.

If you invest in the fund through a taxable account, you generally will be subject to tax when:

· You sell fund shares.

· The fund makes dividend or capital gain distributions.

For individual shareholders, a portion of ordinary dividends representing “qualified dividend income” received by the fund may be subject to tax at the lower rates applicable to long-term capital gains rather than ordinary income. You may report it as “qualified dividend income” in


   

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computing your taxes, provided you have held the fund shares on which the dividend was paid for more than 60 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the ex-dividend date. Ordinary dividends that do not qualify for this lower rate are generally taxable at the investor’s marginal income tax rate. This includes the portion of ordinary dividends derived from interest, short-term capital gains, income and gains from derivatives, and dividends received by the fund from stocks that were on loan. For taxable years ending after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026, you are generally allowed a deduction up to 20% on your qualified real estate investment trust (REIT) dividends. You may not take this deduction for a dividend on shares of a fund that have been held for less than 46 days during the 91-day period beginning on the date 45 days before the ex-dividend date. Little, if any, of the ordinary dividends paid by the bond funds is expected to qualify for treatment as qualified dividend income or qualified REIT dividends.

For corporate shareholders, a portion of ordinary dividends may be eligible for the deduction for dividends received by corporations to the extent the fund’s income consists of dividends paid by U.S. corporations. Little, if any, of the ordinary dividends paid by the bond funds is expected to qualify for this deduction. A bond fund may, in its discretion, designate all or a portion of ordinary dividends as Section 163(j) interest dividends, which would allow the recipient to treat the designated portion of such dividends as interest income for purposes of determining interest expense deduction limitation under Section 163(j) of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 163(j) interest dividends, if so designated by a fund, will be reported to your financial intermediary or otherwise in accordance with the requirements specified by the Internal Revenue Service. To be eligible to treat a Section 163(j) interest dividend as interest income, you must have held the fund share for more than 180 days during the 361-day period beginning on the date that is 180 days before the date on which the share becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend.

A 3.8% net investment income tax is imposed on net investment income, including interest, dividends, and capital gains of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Taxes on Sales of Fund Shares

When you sell shares in the fund, you may realize a gain or loss.

All or a portion of the loss realized from a sale or exchange of fund shares may be disallowed under the “wash sale” rule if you purchase substantially identical shares within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the date on which the shares are sold. Shares of the same fund you acquire through dividend reinvestment are shares purchased for the purpose of the wash sale rule and may trigger a disallowance of the loss for shares sold within the 61-day period of the dividend reinvestment. Any loss disallowed under the wash sale rule is added to the cost basis of the purchased shares.

Your financial intermediary should make available to you Form 1099-B, if applicable, no later than mid-February, providing certain information for each sale you made in the fund during the prior year. Unless otherwise indicated on your Form 1099-B, this information will also be


   

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reported to the Internal Revenue Service. You should check with your financial intermediary regarding the applicable cost basis method. You should, however, note that the cost basis information reported to you may not always be the same as what you should report on your tax return because the rules applicable to the determination of cost basis on Form 1099-B may be different from the rules applicable to the determination of cost basis for reporting on your tax return. Therefore, you should save your transaction records to make sure the information reported on your tax return is accurate.

Taxes on Fund Distributions

Your financial intermediary will make available to you, as applicable, generally no later than mid-February, a Form 1099-DIV, or other Internal Revenue Service forms, as required, indicating the tax status of any income dividends, dividends exempt from federal income taxes, and capital gain distributions made to you. This information will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Taxable distributions are generally taxable to you in the year in which they are paid. A dividend declared in October, November, or December and paid in the following January is generally treated as taxable to you as if you received the distribution in December. Ordinary dividends and capital gain dividends may also be subject to state and local taxes. Your financial intermediary will send any additional information you need to determine your taxes on fund distributions, such as the portion of your dividends, if any, that may be exempt from state and local income taxes.

Taxable distributions are subject to tax whether reinvested in additional shares or received in cash.

The tax treatment of a capital gain distribution is determined by how long the fund held the portfolio securities, not how long you held the shares in the fund. Short-term (one year or less) capital gain distributions are taxable at the same rate as ordinary income, and gains on securities held more than one year are taxed at the lower rates applicable to long-term capital gains. A fund, and a bond fund in particular, may redeem Creation Units in part or entirely in cash. As a result, it may have more capital gain distributions than it will if it redeems Creation Units in kind. If you realized a loss on the sale of fund shares that you held for six months or less, your short-term capital loss must be reclassified as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain distributions received during the period you held the shares.

The fund’s distributions that have exceeded the fund’s earnings and profits for the relevant tax year may be treated as a return of capital to its shareholders. A return of capital distribution is generally nontaxable but reduces the shareholder’s cost basis in the fund, and any return of capital in excess of the cost basis will result in a capital gain.

The tax status of certain distributions may be recharacterized on year-end tax forms, such as your Form 1099-DIV. Distributions made by a fund may later be recharacterized for federal income tax purposes—for example, from taxable ordinary income dividends to returns of capital. A recharacterization of distributions may occur for a number of reasons, including the recharacterization of income received from underlying investments.


   

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If the fund qualifies and elects to pass through nonrefundable foreign income taxes paid to foreign governments during the year, your portion of such taxes will be reported to you as taxable income. However, you may be able to claim an offsetting credit or deduction on your tax return for those amounts. There can be no assurance that a fund will meet the requirements to pass through foreign income taxes paid.

If you are subject to backup withholding, your financial intermediary will have to withhold a 24% backup withholding tax on distributions and, in some cases, redemption payments. You may be subject to backup withholding if your financial intermediary is notified by the Internal Revenue Service to withhold, you have failed one or more tax certification requirements, or your financial intermediary’s records indicate that your tax identification number is missing or incorrect. Backup withholding is not an additional tax and is generally available to credit against your federal income tax liability with any excess refunded to you by the Internal Revenue Service.

Tax Consequences of Hedging

Entering into certain transactions involving futures may result in the application of the mark-to-market and straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. These provisions could result in the fund being required to distribute gains on such transactions even though it did not close the contracts during the year or receive cash to pay such distributions. The fund may not be able to reduce its distributions for losses on such transactions to the extent of unrealized gains in offsetting positions.

Tax Consequences of Shareholder Turnover

If the fund’s portfolio transactions result in a net capital loss (i.e., an excess of capital losses over capital gains) for any year, the loss may be carried forward and used to offset future realized capital gains. However, its ability to carry forward such losses will be limited if the fund experiences an “ownership change” within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code. An ownership change generally results when shareholders owning 5% or more of the fund increase their aggregate holdings by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period.

Because the fund may have only a few large shareholders, an ownership change can occur in the normal course of shareholder purchases and redemptions. The fund undertakes no obligation to avoid or prevent an ownership change. Moreover, because of circumstances beyond the fund’s control, there can be no assurance that the fund will not experience, or has not already experienced, an ownership change. An ownership change can reduce the fund’s ability to offset capital gains with losses, which could increase the amount of taxable gains that could be distributed to shareholders.

Tax Effect of Buying Shares Before an Income Dividend or Capital Gain Distribution

If you buy shares shortly before or on the record date—the date that establishes you as the person to receive the upcoming distribution—you may receive a portion of the money you just invested in the form of a taxable distribution. Therefore, you may wish to find out the fund’s record date before investing. In addition, the fund’s share price may, at any time, reflect


   

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undistributed capital gains or income and unrealized appreciation, which may result in future taxable distributions. Such distributions can occur even in a year when the fund has a negative return.

Taxes on Creation and Redemption of Creation Units

An Authorized Participant that exchanges securities for Creation Units may realize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the fair market value of the Creation Units at the time of purchase and the sum of the Authorized Participant’s cost basis in the securities transferred plus any cash paid.

An Authorized Participant that exchanges Creation Units for securities may realize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the Authorized Participant’s cost basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the fair market value of the securities plus any cash received.

Authorized Participants exchanging securities for Creation Units or redeeming Creation Units should consult with their own tax adviser.


The fund’s Statement of Additional Information, which contains a more detailed description of the fund’s operations, investment restrictions, policies, and practices, has been filed with the SEC. The Statement of Additional Information is incorporated by reference into this prospectus, which means that it is legally part of this prospectus even if you do not request a copy. Further information about the fund’s investments, including a review of market conditions and the manager’s recent investment strategies and their impact on performance during the past fiscal year, is available in the annual and semiannual shareholder reports. These documents and updated performance information are available through troweprice.com. For inquiries about the fund and to obtain free copies of any of these documents, call 1-800-638-5660. If you invest in the fund through a financial intermediary, you should contact your financial intermediary for copies of these documents.

Fund reports and other fund information are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s internet site at sec.gov. Copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at [email protected].

   

 

T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
100 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

 
   

1940 Act File No. 811-23494

ETF988-040 10/1/22