securities that best enable the Fund to pursue those opportunities. Although a variety of specialists provide input in the management of the Fund, the portfolio managers retain responsibility for ensuring the Fund is positioned appropriately in terms of risk exposures and position sizes.
The Fund utilizes active duration (i.e., making investments to reduce or increase the sensitivity of the Fund's portfolio to interest rate changes) and yield curve positioning (i.e., tactically adjusting exposure to different maturity segments along the yield curve) for risk management and for generating alpha (return on investments in excess of the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Index).
Decisions to purchase or sell securities are determined by relative value considerations of the portfolio managers that factor in economic and credit-related fundamentals, market supply and demand, market dislocations and situation-specific opportunities. The purchase or sale of securities may be related to a decision to alter the Fund's macro risk exposure (such as duration, yield curve positioning and sector exposure), a decision to limit or reduce the Fund's exposure to a particular security or issuer, degradation of the credit quality of an issuer or collateral, general liquidity needs of the Fund, or other factors.
In attempting to meet its investment objective or to manage subscription and redemption requests, the Fund engages in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.
The Fund is "non-diversified" and therefore is not required to meet certain diversification requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act").
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
The following summarizes the principal risks of investing in the Fund.
The Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective.
Market Risk. Securities held by the Fund are subject to market fluctuations. You should anticipate that the value of the Shares will decline, more or less, in correlation with any decline in value of the securities in the Fund's portfolio. Additionally, natural or environmental disasters, widespread disease or other public health issues, war, military conflicts, acts of terrorism, economic crises or other events could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's net asset value ("NAV"). Certain changes in the U.S. economy in particular, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have a material adverse effect on global financial markets as a whole, and on the securities to which the Fund has exposure. Increasingly strained relations between the U.S. and foreign countries, including as a result of economic sanctions and tariffs, may also adversely affect U.S. issuers, as well as non-U.S. issuers.
During a general downturn in the financial markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that specific investments held by the Fund will rise in value.
Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed portfolio. In managing the Fund's portfolio holdings, Invesco Advisers, Inc, (the "Sub-Adviser") applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these actions will produce the desired results.
Fixed-Income Securities Risk. Fixed-income securities are subject to interest rate risk and credit risk. Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of a fixed-income security resulting from changes in the general level of interest rates. When the general level of interest rates goes up, the prices of most fixed-income securities go down. When the general level of interest rates goes down, the prices of most fixed-income securities go up. Fixed-income securities with longer maturities typically are more sensitive to changes in interest rates, making them more volatile than securities with shorter maturities. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a security will be unable and/or unwilling to make timely interest payments and/or repay the principal on its debt. Debt instruments are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which may be reflected in credit ratings.
There is a possibility that the credit rating of a fixed-income security may be downgraded after purchase, which may occur quickly and without advance warning following sudden market downturns or unexpected developments involving an issuer, and which may adversely affect the liquidity and value of the security.
Changing Fixed Income Market Conditions Risk. Increases in the federal funds and equivalent foreign rates or other changes to monetary policy or regulatory actions may expose fixed income markets to heightened volatility, perhaps suddenly and to a significant degree, and to reduced liquidity for certain fixed income investments, particularly those with longer maturities. Such changes and resulting increased volatility may adversely impact the Fund, including its operations, universe of potential investment options, and return potential. It is difficult to predict the impact of interest rate changes on various markets. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may also potentially lead to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity in the fixed income markets. As a result, the value of the Fund's investments and share price may decline. Changes in central bank policies and other governmental actions and political events within the U.S. and abroad may also, among other things, affect investor and consumer expectations and confidence in the financial markets, which could result in higher than normal redemptions by APs (as defined herein), which could potentially increase the Fund's portfolio turnover rate and transaction costs.
Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities Risk. The Fund invests in mortgage- and asset-backed securities, which are subject to call (prepayment) risk, reinvestment risk and extension risk. In addition, these securities are susceptible to an unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool, which may adversely affect their value. The risk of such defaults depends on the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. For example, the risk of default generally is higher in the case of mortgage pools that include subprime mortgages, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories or with lower capacity to make timely mortgage payments.
U.S. Government Obligations Risk. U.S. government securities include securities that are issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury, by various agencies of the U.S. government, or by various instrumentalities which have been established or sponsored by the U.S. government. U.S. Treasury securities are backed by the "full faith and credit" of the United States, which may be negatively affected by an actual or threatened failure of the U.S. government to pay its obligations. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. government-sponsored instrumentalities may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. In the case of those U.S. government securities not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event that the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment. The U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities do not guarantee the market value of their securities, and consequently, the value of such securities may fluctuate.
Agency Debt Risk. The Fund invests in debt issued by government agencies, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Instruments issued by government agencies generally are backed only by the general creditworthiness and reputation of the government agency issuing the instrument and are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. As a result, there is uncertainty as to the current status of many obligations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other agencies that are placed under conservatorship of the federal government.
Credit Risk Transfer Securities. CRTs are unguaranteed and unsecured debt securities that are commonly issued by a government sponsored entity. CRTs are not directly backed by the underlying mortgage loans, so investors have no direct recourse to the underlying mortgage loans. In addition, some or all of the mortgage default risk associated with