FCEF First Trust CEF VIII First Trust Income Opportunities ETF

First Trust Advisors L.P. ("FTA") announces the declaration of the monthly distributions for certain exchange-traded funds advised by FTA.

The following dates apply to today's distribution declarations:

       

Expected Ex-Dividend Date:

 

 

 

February 11, 2022 

       

Record Date:

 

 

 

February 14, 2022

       

Payable Date:

 

 

 

February 28, 2022

Ticker

   

Exchange

   

Fund Name

   

Frequency

   

Ordinary Income Per Share Amount

 

ACTIVELY MANAGED EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS

 

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII

FCEF

   

Nasdaq

   

First Trust CEF Income Opportunity ETF

   

Monthly

   

$0.1150

MCEF

   

Nasdaq

   

First Trust Municipal CEF Income Opportunity ETF

   

Monthly

   

$0.0650

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

FTA is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the Funds' investment advisor. FTA and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately-held companies that provide a variety of investment services. FTA has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $212 billion as of January 31, 2022 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. FTA is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. FTA and FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of a Fund before investing. Prospectuses for the Funds contain this and other important information and are available free of charge by calling toll-free at 1-800-621-1675 or visiting https://www.ftportfolios.com. A prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Principal Risk Factors: Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment return and market value of an investment in a Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

A Fund's shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in a Fund. An investment in a Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that a Fund's investment objectives will be achieved. An investment in a Fund involves risks similar to those of investing in any portfolio of equity securities traded on exchanges. The risks of investing in each Fund are spelled out in its prospectus, shareholder report, and other regulatory filings.

Securities held by a fund, as well as shares of a fund itself, are subject to market fluctuations caused by factors such as general economic conditions, political events, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result of the risk of loss associated with these market fluctuations. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant negative impact on a fund and its investments. Such events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. The outbreak of the respiratory disease designated as COVID-19 in December 2019 has caused significant volatility and declines in global financial markets, which have caused losses for investors. While the development of vaccines has slowed the spread of the virus and allowed for the resumption of "reasonably" normal business activity in the United States, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease.

Investors buying or selling Fund shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Investors who sell Fund shares may receive less than the share's net asset value. Shares may be sold throughout the day on the exchange through any brokerage account. However, unlike mutual funds, shares may only be redeemed directly from the Fund by authorized participants, in very large creation/redemption units. If the Fund's authorized participants are unable to proceed with creation/redemption orders and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may trade at a discount to the Fund's net asset value and possibly face delisting.

One of the principal risks of investing in a Fund is market risk. Market risk is the risk that a particular security owned by a Fund, Fund shares or securities in general may fall in value.

An actively managed ETF is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed portfolio. In managing such a Fund's investment portfolio, the portfolio managers, management teams, advisor or sub-advisor, will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the desired result.

First Trust Municipal CEF Income Opportunity ETF (MCEF) and First Trust CEF Income Opportunity ETF (FCEF) invest in closed-end funds (“CEFs”). Because the shares of CEFs cannot be redeemed upon demand, shares of many CEFs will trade on exchanges at market prices rather than net asset value, which may cause the shares to trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). There can be no assurance that the market discount on shares of any CEF purchased by MCEF or FCEF will ever decrease or when MCEF or FCEF seeks to sell shares of a CEF it can receive the NAV for those shares. MCEF and FCEF may also be exposed to higher volatility in the market due to the indirect use of leverage through their investment in CEFs. CEFs may issue senior securities in an attempt to enhance returns.

An underlying CEF that is concentrated in securities of companies in a certain sector or industry involves additional risks, including limited diversification. An investment in an underlying CEF concentrated in a single country or region may be subject to greater risks of adverse events and may experience greater volatility than a Fund that is more broadly diversified geographically.

An underlying CEF may invest in small capitalization and mid-capitalization companies. Such companies may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies.

An investment in an underlying CEF containing securities of non-U.S. issuers is subject to additional risks, including currency fluctuations, political risks, withholding, the lack of adequate financial information, and exchange control restrictions impacting non-U.S. issuers. These risks may be heightened for securities of companies located in, or with significant operations in, emerging market countries. An underlying CEF may invest in depositary receipts which may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market.

Certain underlying CEFs are subject to credit risk, call risk, income risk, interest rate risk, prepayment risk and zero coupon bond risk. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and that the value of a security may decline as a result. Credit risk is heightened for floating-rate loans and high-yield securities. Call risk is the risk that if an issuer calls higher-yielding debt instruments held by a Fund, performance could be adversely impacted. Income risk is the risk that income from a Fund's fixed-income investments could decline during periods of falling interest rates. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the fixed-income securities in a Fund will decline because of rising market interest rates. Prepayment risk is the risk that during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation earlier than expected. This may result in a decline in a Fund's income. Zero coupon bond risk is the risk that zero coupon bonds may be highly volatile as interest rates rise or fall because they do not pay interest on a current basis.

The funds may invest in CEFs and/or ETFs that hold high-yield securities. High-yield securities, or "junk" bonds, are subject to greater market fluctuations and risk of loss than securities with higher ratings, and therefore, may be highly speculative. These securities are issued by companies that may have limited operating history, narrowly focused operations, and/or other impediments to the timely payment of periodic interest and principal at maturity. The market for high-yield securities is smaller and less liquid than that for investment grade securities.

Certain of the fixed-income securities held by certain underlying funds may not have the benefit of covenants which could reduce the ability of the issuer to meet its payment obligations and might result in increased credit risk.

Income from municipal bonds held by an underlying CEF could be declared taxable because of, among other things, unfavorable changes in tax laws, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities, or noncompliant conduct of a bond issuer.

Master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) are subject to certain risks, including price and supply fluctuations caused by international politics, energy conservation, taxes, price controls, and other regulatory policies of various governments. In addition, there is the risk that an MLP could be taxed as a corporation, resulting in decreased returns from such MLP.

The use of futures, options, and other derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate, which may be magnified by certain features of the derivatives. These risks are heightened when an underlying CEF's portfolio managers use derivatives to enhance an underlying CEF's return or as a substitute for a position or security, rather than solely to hedge (or offset) the risk of a position or security held by an underlying CEF.

A Fund’s investment in CEFs and ETFs involves additional expenses that would not be present in a direct investment in the underlying funds. In addition, a Fund's investment performance and risks may be related to the investment and performance of the underlying funds.

Income from the Funds may be subject to the federal alternative minimum income tax.

Certain underlying CEFs may invest in distressed securities and many distressed securities are illiquid or trade in low volumes and thus may be more difficult to value. Illiquid securities involve the risk that the securities will not be able to be sold at the time desired by an underlying CEF or at prices approximately the value at which an underlying CEF is carrying the securities on its books.

To the extent a fund invests in floating or variable rate obligations that use the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) as a reference interest rate, it is subject to LIBOR Risk. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, will cease making LIBOR available as a reference rate over a phase-out period that will begin immediately after December 31, 2021. The unavailability or replacement of LIBOR may affect the value, liquidity or return on certain fund investments and may result in costs incurred in connection with closing out positions and entering into new trades. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the fund or on certain instruments in which the fund invests can be difficult to ascertain, and they may vary depending on a variety of factors, and they could result in losses to the fund.

Each fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of a fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. Although the funds and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

The senior loan market has seen a significant increase in loans with weaker lender protections including, but not limited to, limited financial maintenance covenants or, in some cases, no financial maintenance covenants (i.e., “covenant-lite loans”) that would typically be included in a traditional loan agreement and general weakening of other restrictive covenants applicable to the borrower such as limitations on incurrence of additional debt, restrictions on payments of junior debt or restrictions on dividends and distributions. Weaker lender protections such as the absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement and the inclusion of “borrower-favorable” terms may impact recovery values and/or trading levels of senior loans in the future. The absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement generally means that the lender may not be able to declare a default if financial performance deteriorates. This may hinder an underlying fund’s ability to reprice credit risk associated with a particular borrower and reduce an underlying fund’s ability to restructure a problematic loan and mitigate potential loss. As a result, an underlying fund’s exposure to losses on investments in senior loans may be increased, especially during a downturn in the credit cycle or changes in market or economic conditions.

The information presented is not intended to constitute an investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person. By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework. Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in determining whether investments are appropriate for their clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has adopted Rule 12d1-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”) which the funds must comply with in order to invest in shares of other investment companies (“acquired funds”) beyond the statutory limits of Section 12 of the 1940 Act. Rule 12d1-4 permits a fund to invest beyond the statutory limits subject to a set of new conditions, including limits on control and voting of acquired funds’ shares, evaluations and findings by the fund's investment adviser, fund investing agreements, and limits on most three-tier fund structures. Rule 12d1-4 replaces certain exemptive relief and no-action letters from the SEC which have been rescinded. These regulatory changes may adversely impact the fund’s ability to pursue its investment objective as the fund may not be able to invest in certain funds it would otherwise have invested in without the Rule 12d1-4 restrictions. Additionally, the limitations under Rule 12d1-4 may impact the Advisor’s ability to allocate shares of acquired funds among the fund and other funds in the Advisor’s complex, which could negatively impact the fund. Other funds may also use Rule 12d1-4 to limit or prohibit the fund from investing in them. These limitations could negatively impact fund performance. In order to comply with certain provisions of Rule 12d1-4, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in each fund's prospectus, summary prospectus, or statement of additional information, each fund generally intends to effect creations for cash rather than in-kind. As a result, an investment in the fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an exchange-traded fund that effects its creations only in-kind.

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