developed and emerging markets. The Fund may not invest more than 20% of its net assets in foreign debt securities.
The Fund may invest in securities that are subject to resale restrictions and securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), such as those contained in Rule 144A promulgated under the Securities Act.
The Fund has no limitations on the range of maturities of the debt securities in which it can invest and may hold securities with short-, medium- or long-term maturities. The maturity of a security differs from its effective duration, which attempts to measure the expected volatility of a security's price to interest rate changes. For example, if a bond has an effective duration of three years, a 1% increase in general interest rates would be expected to cause the bond's value to decrease about 3%. To try to decrease volatility, the Fund seeks to maintain a weighted average effective portfolio duration within +/- two years of the duration of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, measured on a dollar-weighted basis using the effective duration of the securities included in the portfolio and the amount invested in each of those securities. However, the duration of the portfolio might not meet that target at all times including due to market events or interest rate changes that cause debt securities to be repaid more rapidly or more slowly than expected.
The Fund may also use derivatives to seek increased returns or to seek to increase or decrease its exposure to certain markets or to seek to manage investment risks. The Fund is not required to use derivatives in seeking its investment objective or for hedging and might not do so.
Futures, swaps, forward contracts, options, and "structured" notes are examples of some of the types of derivatives the Fund can use. The Fund may purchase and sell securities on a when-issued and delayed delivery basis, which means that the Fund buys or sells a security with payment and delivery taking place in the future. The Fund may also engage in "to be announced" (TBA) transactions, which are transactions in which a fund buys or sells mortgage-backed securities on a forward commitment basis. TBA transactions may be conducted as dollar rolls. The Fund may engage in short sales of TBA mortgages, including short sales on TBA mortgages the Fund does not own.
The Fund may hold a portion of its assets in cash and cash equivalent instruments, including affiliated money market funds, as margin or collateral for the Fund's obligations under the TBA transactions, or for cash management purposes.
In selecting investments for the Fund, the portfolio managers analyze the overall investment opportunities and risks in different sectors of the debt securities markets by focusing on business cycle analysis and relative values between the corporate and government sectors. The Fund mainly seeks income earnings on the Fund's investments plus capital appreciation that may arise from decreases in interest rates, from improving credit fundamentals for a particular sector or security or from other investment techniques. The Fund may sell securities that the portfolio managers believe no longer meet the above criteria.
The Fund's credit research process considers factors that may include, but are not limited to, an issuer's operations, capital structure and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. Credit quality analysis for certain issuers therefore may consider whether any ESG factors pose a material financial risk or opportunity to an issuer. The Sub-Adviser may determine that ESG considerations are not material to certain issuers or types of investments held by the Fund. In addition, not all issuers or investments in the Fund may undergo a credit quality analysis that considers ESG factors, and not all investments held by the Fund will rate strongly on ESG criteria.
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, 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.
Foreign Fixed-Income Investment Risk. Investments in fixed-income securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to the same risks as other debt securities, notably credit risk, market risk, interest rate risk and liquidity risk, while also facing risks beyond those associated with investments in U.S. securities. For example, foreign securities may have relatively low market liquidity, greater market volatility, decreased publicly available information, and less reliable financial information about issuers, and inconsistent and potentially less stringent accounting, auditing and financial reporting requirements and standards of practice, including recordkeeping standards, comparable to those applicable to domestic issuers. Foreign securities also are subject to the risks of expropriation, nationalization, political instability or other adverse political or economic developments and the difficulty of enforcing obligations in other countries. Investments in foreign securities also may be subject to dividend withholding or confiscatory taxes, currency blockage and/or transfer restrictions and higher transactional costs.
Changing Fixed-Income Market Conditions Risk. Fluctuations in the federal funds and equivalent foreign interest 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