which are used primarily to hedge the Fund’s portfolio risks, manage the Fund’s duration
and/or gain exposure to certain fixed income securities. 100% of the Fund’s portfolio will be invested in U.S. dollar-denominated securities.
The Fund may gain exposure to Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities through several methods, including by utilizing to-be-announced (“TBA”) agreements in Agency
Mortgage-Backed Securities or through the use of reverse repurchase agreements. TBA agreements for Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities are standardized contracts for future delivery of fixed-rate mortgage
pass-through securities in which the exact mortgage pools to be delivered are not specified until shortly before settlement. A reverse repurchase agreement enables the Fund to gain exposure to specified pools of
Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities by purchasing them on a forward settling basis and using the proceeds of the reverse repurchase agreement to settle the trade.
The Fund may also seek to obtain exposure to fixed income investments through investments in affiliated or unaffiliated investment companies, including exchange-traded funds
(“ETFs”).
The Fund’s target duration range under normal interest rate conditions
is expected to approximate that of the ICE BofAML Two-Year U.S. Treasury Note Index, plus or
minus 1 year, and over the past five years ended June 30, 2022, the duration of this index has ranged between 1.73 and 2.00 years. “Duration” is a measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to
changes in interest rates. The longer the duration of the Fund (or an individual debt security), the more sensitive its market price to changes in interest rates. For example, if market interest rates increase by 1%, the market price of a
debt security with a positive duration of 3 years will generally decrease by approximately 3%.
Conversely, a 1% decline in market interest rates will generally result in an increase of
approximately 3% of that security’s market price.
The Fund’s benchmark index is the ICE BofAML Two-Year U.S. Treasury Note Index.
Fixed Income Investment Philosophy:
Our
process:
◼
Combines diversified sources of return by employing multiple strategies
◼
Takes a global perspective to seek relative value opportunities
◼
Considers a wide range of factors as part of the fundamental investment process, which may include environmental, social and governance (“ESG”)
factors
◼
Employs focused specialist teams to seek to identify short-term mis-pricings and incorporate long-term views
◼
Emphasizes a risk-aware approach as we view risk management as both an offensive and defensive tool
No one factor or consideration is determinative in the fundamental investment process.
Principal Risks of the Fund |
Loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund.
An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not
insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or any government agency. The Fund should not be relied upon as a complete investment program. There can be no assurance that the Fund
will achieve its investment objective. Investments in the Fund involve substantial risks which prospective investors should consider carefully before investing. The Fund's principal risks are presented
below in alphabetical order, and not in the order of importance or potential exposure.
Call/Prepayment Risk. An issuer could exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation held by the Fund (such as a Mortgage-Backed Security) earlier than expected.
This may happen when there is a decline in interest rates, when credit spreads change, or when an issuer’s credit quality improves. Under these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to recoup all of its initial
investment and will also suffer from having to reinvest in lower-yielding
securities.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of options, futures, swaps and other derivative instruments may result in losses. These
instruments, which may pose risks in addition to and greater than those associated with
investing directly in securities, currencies or other instruments, may be illiquid or less
liquid, volatile, difficult to price and leveraged so that small changes in the value of the underlying instruments may produce disproportionate losses to the Fund. Certain derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is
the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from
those associated with investments in more traditional securities and
instruments.
Interest Rate Risk. When interest rates increase, fixed income securities or instruments held by the Fund will generally decline in value. Long-term fixed income
securities or instruments will normally have more price volatility because of this risk than short-term fixed income securities or instruments. The risks associated with changing interest rates may have unpredictable
effects on the markets and the Fund’s investments. Fluctuations in interest rates may also affect the liquidity of fixed income securities and instruments held by the Fund.
Large Shareholder Transactions Risk. The Fund may experience adverse effects when certain large shareholders purchase or redeem large amounts of shares of the Fund. Such large shareholder redemptions, which may occur rapidly or
unexpectedly, may cause the Fund to sell portfolio securities at times when it would not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV and liquidity. Similarly, large Fund share
purchases may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash or otherwise maintains a larger cash position than it ordinarily would. These transactions may also
accelerate the realization of taxable income to shareholders if such sales of investments resulted in gains, and may also increase transaction costs. In addition, a large redemption could result in the Fund's
current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, leading to an increase in the Fund's expense ratio.
Market Risk. The value of the securities in which the Fund invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of
individual companies, particular sectors or governments and/or general economic conditions
throughout the world due to increasingly interconnected global economies and financial
markets. Events such as war, acts of terrorism, social unrest, natural disasters, the spread of infectious illness or other public health threats could also significantly impact the Fund and its investments.
Mortgage-Backed and/or Other Asset-Backed Securities Risk. Mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities are subject to certain additional risks, including
“extension risk” (i.e., in periods of rising interest rates, issuers may pay principal later than expected) and “prepayment risk” (i.e., in periods of declining interest rates, issuers may pay principal
more quickly than expected, causing the Fund to reinvest proceeds at lower prevailing interest rates). Mortgage-Backed Securities offered by non-governmental issuers are subject to other risks as well, including failures of
private insurers to meet their obligations and unexpectedly high rates of default on the mortgages backing the securities. Other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with
Mortgage-Backed Securities, as well as risks