Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or
“turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 137.16% of the average value of its
portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in bonds (or fixed-income securities) which include:
●U.S. government securities;
●Corporate
bonds issued by U.S. or foreign companies that are investment grade (i.e., rated in the four highest rating categories of a nationally recognized statistical ratings organization
such as Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s or, if unrated, which the subadviser determines to be of comparable quality);
●Investment
grade debt securities backed by the interest and principal payments of various types of mortgages, known as mortgage-backed securities and
●Investment
grade debt securities backed by the interest and principal payments on loans for other types of assets, such as automobiles, houses, or credit cards, known as asset-backed
securities.
In addition to these, the Fund may invest in other types of bonds.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in bonds. For these purposes, bonds are debt securities and other fixed-income securities that represent
an obligation by the issuer to pay a specified rate of interest or dividend at specified times. Foreign securities in which the Fund invests are denominated in U.S. dollars.
The Fund typically maintains an average portfolio duration that is within one year of the average duration of the Bloomberg
U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the “Aggregate Bond Index”), although it reserves the right to deviate further from the average duration of the Aggregate Bond Index when the subadviser believes it to be appropriate in light of the Fund’s investment
objective. As of December 31, 2025, the average duration of the Aggregate Bond Index was 5.92 years.
In deciding which securities to buy or sell, the subadviser considers a number of factors
related to the bond issue and the current market, for example, including:
●the financial strength of the issuer;
●current interest rates and
valuations;
●the stability and
volatility of a country’s bond markets and
●expectations regarding general trends in interest rates and currency considerations.
The subadviser also considers how purchasing or selling a bond would impact the Fund’s overall portfolio risk profile (for example, its sensitivity to currency risk, interest rate risk and sector-specific risk) and potential return (income and capital gains). The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.
The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.
As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of
Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:
Interest rate risk – generally, when interest
rates go up, the value of debt securities goes down. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term
securities. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in debt securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause
periods of increased volatility and redemptions, and will cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly. The Federal Reserve Board continued to lower interest rates following a period of consistent rate increases, though it is unclear if such lowering will continue. The interest earned on the Fund's investments in debt securities may decline when prevailing
interest rates fall. Declines in interest rates increase the likelihood that debt obligations will be pre-paid, which, in turn, increases these risks. Very low or negative interest rates will impact the yield of the Fund's investments in debt securities and increase the risk that, if followed by rising interest rates, the Fund's performance will be negatively impacted. The Fund is subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments in debt securities may not keep pace with inflation. Recent and potential future
changes in government policy may affect interest rates.