Merk Hard Currency Fund: Performance

The Merk Hard Currency Fund provides you with exposure to a basket of hard currencies from countries with sound monetary policies. This strategy seeks to take advantage of the dollar’s decline relative to these currencies, may help to diversify your portfolio, and potentially decreases downside risk against a decline in the dollar. The Merk Hard Currency Fund indirectly provides access to these currencies, while seeking to mitigate stock market, credit and interest risks incurred by alternative means of access, such as the typical international equity or bond fund. The performance numbers below are for Investor Shares for the period ending September 02, 2010.

Performance data represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. The Fund's Investor Shares expense ratio is 1.30%.

The U.S. Dollar Index® (USDX) is a trade-weighted geometric average of the U.S. dollar’s value compared to a basket of six major global currencies (euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, Swiss franc) set by the New York Board of Trade®. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is a basket of 500 stocks that are considered to be widely held. The S&P 500 index is weighted by market value. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

Source: Bloomberg

As with any investment strategy, there is no guarantee we will achieve this goal and the strategy may not be suitable for every investor. The Fund is not a substitute for a money market fund. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.