public offerings (IPOs), and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which are U.S. dollar-denominated securities that represent indirect ownership of securities issued by foreign companies. The fund also may invest in securities issued by exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which generally are designed to provide investment results corresponding to an index.
Natural resources include, but are not limited to, precious metals (e.g., gold, platinum and silver), ferrous and non-ferrous metals (e.g., iron, aluminum and copper), strategic metals (e.g., uranium and titanium), hydrocarbons (e.g., coal, oil and natural gases) and other sources (including alternative sources) of energy, chemicals, paper and forest products, farming products, real estate, food, textile and tobacco products, and other basic commodities.
The fund invests in growth and value stocks, and typically will maintain exposure to the major natural resources sectors. Using fundamental research and direct management contact, the portfolio managers seek stocks of companies with strong positions in their natural resources sector, sustained achievement records and strong financial condition. The portfolio managers also look for special situations, such as corporate restructurings, turnarounds or management changes, that could increase the stock price.
The fund typically sells a stock when the reasons for buying it no longer apply or when the company begins to show deteriorating fundamentals or poor relative performance or when a stock is fully valued by the market. The fund may also sell a stock to secure gains, limit losses or redeploy assets into more promising opportunities.
Although not a principal investment strategy, the fund may, but is not required to, use derivatives, such as options, futures and options on futures (including those relating to stocks, indexes, foreign currencies and interest rates) and forward contracts, as a substitute for investing directly in an underlying asset, to increase returns, or as part of a hedging strategy. The fund also may engage in short-selling, typically for hedging purposes, such as to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities.
The fund is non-diversified, which means that a relatively high percentage of the fund's assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers. Therefore, the fund's performance may be more vulnerable to changes in the market value of a single issuer or group of issuers and more susceptible to risks associated with a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund.
The fund's investment adviser is Dreyfus.
Dreyfus Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund
The fund seeks to maximize total return. This objective may be changed by the fund's board, upon 60 days' prior notice to shareholders. To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in emerging market bonds and other debt instruments denominated in the local currency of issue, and in derivative instruments that provide investment exposure to such securities. The fund's emerging market bond investments may include bonds and other debt issued by governments, their agencies and instrumentalities, or by central banks, corporate debt securities and other fixed-income securities or instruments that provide investment exposure to emerging market debt. The fund may enter into forward contracts, futures and options contracts and swap agreements with respect to emerging market currencies to provide economic exposure similar to investments in sovereign and corporate emerging market debt.
Emerging market countries generally are those countries defined as having an emerging or developing economy by the World Bank or its related organizations, or the United Nations or its authorities, as well as any other country the portfolio managers believe has an emerging economy or market. The emerging market countries in which the fund may invest currently include, but are not limited to, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and Uruguay. The fund's benchmark is the JPMorgan Government Bond Index–Emerging Markets Diversified (GBI-EM Diversified), an unmanaged index that tracks local currency bonds issued by emerging market governments. The GBI-EM Diversified index consists of regularly traded, liquid fixed-rate, local currency government bonds and includes only those countries that give access to their capital markets to foreign investors.
In choosing investments, the fund's portfolio managers employ an investment process that uses in depth fundamental country and currency analysis disciplined by proprietary quantitative valuation models. A "top down" analysis of macroeconomic, financial and political variables guides country and currency allocation. The portfolio managers also consider other market technicals and the global risk environment. The portfolio managers seek to identify shifts in country fundamentals and consider the risk adjusted attractiveness of currency and duration returns for each emerging market country.
The fund is not restricted as to credit quality when making investments in debt securities. Emerging market countries in which the fund invests may have sovereign ratings that are below investment grade or are unrated. Moreover, the corporate or other privately issued debt securities in which the fund may invest may be rated below investment grade ("high yield" or "junk" bonds) or the unrated equivalent as determined by Dreyfus. There are no restrictions on the
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average maturity of the fund's portfolio or on the maturities of the individual debt securities the fund may purchase. Debt securities in which the fund may invest may have all types of interest rate payment and reset terms, including fixed rate, adjustable rate, zero coupon, contingent, deferred, payment in kind and auction rate features.
The fund's portfolio managers typically will sell a security if they believe it is overvalued from a valuation standpoint, another sector becomes relatively more attractive, and/or they expect fundamentals to deteriorate.
The fund may, but is not required to, use derivative instruments, such as options, futures and options on futures (including those relating to securities, foreign currencies, indexes and interest rates), forward contracts, swaps (including interest rate and credit default swaps), options on swaps, and other credit derivatives, as a substitute for investing directly in debt securities and currencies, to increase returns, to manage credit or interest rate risk, to manage the effective maturity or duration of the fund's portfolio, as part of a hedging strategy, or for other purposes related to the management of the fund. Swap agreements can be used to transfer the credit risk of a security without actually transferring ownership of the security or to customize exposure to particular corporate credit. The fund also may make forward commitments in which the fund agrees to buy or sell a security in the future at a price agreed upon today.
The fund is non-diversified, which means that a relatively high percentage of the fund's assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers. Therefore, the fund's performance may be more vulnerable to changes in the market value of a single issuer or group of issuers and more susceptible to risks associated with a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund.
The fund's investment adviser is Dreyfus.
Dreyfus Emerging Markets Fund
The fund seeks long-term capital growth. To pursue this goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in the stocks of companies organized, or with a majority of assets or business, in emerging market countries. Normally, the fund will not invest more than 25% of its total assets in the securities of companies in any one emerging market country. The fund invests principally in common stocks, but its stock investments also may include preferred stocks and convertible securities, including those purchased in initial public offerings (IPOs) or shortly thereafter.
In selecting stocks, the portfolio managers identify potential investments through extensive quantitative and fundamental research using a value-oriented, research-driven approach. Emphasizing individual stock selection rather than economic and industry trends, the fund focuses on three key factors:
·
value,
or how a stock is valued relative to its intrinsic worth based on traditional value measures
·
business health,
or overall efficiency and profitability as measured by return on assets and return on equity
·
business momentum,
or the presence of a catalyst (such as corporate restructuring, change in management or spin-off) that potentially will trigger a price increase near-term or mid-term
The fund considers emerging market countries to be generally all countries represented by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Markets Index. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market-capitalization weighted index designed to measure the equity performance of emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Basin.
The fund typically sells a stock when it is no longer considered a value company, appears less likely to benefit from the current market and economic environment, shows deteriorating fundamentals or declining momentum, or falls short of the portfolio managers' expectations.
Although not a principal investment strategy, the fund may, but is not required to, use derivatives, such as options, futures and options on futures (including those relating to stocks, indexes and foreign currencies) and forward contracts, as a substitute for investing directly in an underlying asset, to increase returns, or as part of a hedging strategy. The fund also may engage in short-selling, typically for hedging purposes, such as to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities.
The fund is non-diversified, which means that a relatively high percentage of the fund's assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers. Therefore, the fund's performance may be more vulnerable to changes in the market value of a single issuer or group of issuers and more susceptible to risks associated with a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund.
The fund's investment adviser is Dreyfus.
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