Strategy. The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in fixed income securities and in derivatives and other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities. The Fund invests primarily in investment grade fixed-income securities generally represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the benchmark index). The principal types of fixed-income securities in which the Fund invests are corporate bonds, U.S. Treasury and agency securities, and mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in debt securities rated below investment grade. Below investment grade securities are commonly referred to as junk bonds. The Fund may invest up to 30% of its … Show more… The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in fixed income securities and in derivatives and other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities. The Fund invests primarily in investment grade fixed-income securities generally represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the benchmark index). The principal types of fixed-income securities in which the Fund invests are corporate bonds, U.S. Treasury and agency securities, and mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in debt securities rated below investment grade. Below investment grade securities are commonly referred to as junk bonds. The Fund may invest up to 30% of its net assets in foreign debt securities, including debt securities of issuers located in emerging market countries, i.e., those that are generally in the early stages of their industrial cycles. The Fund may invest up to 20% of the Funds net assets in currencies and securities, including foreign currency derivatives, denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The Fund may purchase mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities such as collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) of any rating, which are counted toward the 80% investment requirement. The Fund may invest in illiquid or thinly traded securities. The Fund may also invest in securities that are subject to resale restrictions such as those contained in Rule 144A promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Fund may purchase municipal securities. The Funds investments may also include securities that do not produce immediate cash income, such as zero coupon securities and pay-in-kind securities. 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 of TBA mortgages the Fund does not own. The Fund can invest in derivative instruments including swap contracts, options, futures contracts and forward foreign currency contracts. The Fund can use swap contracts, including interest rate swaps, to hedge or adjust its exposure to interest rates. The Fund can also use swap contracts, including credit default swaps, to create long or short exposure to corporate or sovereign debt securities. The Fund can further use swap contracts, including: credit default index swaps, to hedge credit risk or take a position on a basket of credit entities; total return swaps, to gain exposure to a reference asset; and volatility swaps to adjust the volatility profile of the Fund. The Fund can use options to seek investment return or to seek to mitigate risk and to seek to hedge against adverse movements in the foreign currencies in which portfolio securities are denominated. The Fund can also use credit default swap options to gain the right to enter into a credit default swap at a specified future date. The Fund can further use swaptions (options on swaps) to manage interest rate risk; and options on bond or rate futures to manage interest rate exposure. The Fund can use futures contracts, including interest rate futures, to increase or reduce its exposure to interest rate changes. The Fund can also use currency futures to increase or decrease its exposure to foreign currencies. The Fund can engage in foreign currency transactions either on a spot basis (i.e., for prompt delivery and settlement at the rate prevailing in the currency exchange market at the time) or through forward foreign currency contracts to gain or mitigate the risk of foreign currency exposure. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in equity interests and/or debt obligations issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The Fund utilizes active duration (i.e., making investments to reduce or increase the sensitivity of the Funds portfolio to interest rate changes) and yield curve positioning (i.e., making investments that allow the Fund to benefit from varying interest rates) for risk management and for generating alpha (return on investments in excess of the benchmark index). Duration is a measure of volatility expressed in years and represents the anticipated percent change in a bonds price at a single point in time for a 1% change in yield. As duration increases, volatility increases as applicable interest rates change. The portfolio managers utilize the benchmark index as a reference in structuring the portfolio. The portfolio managers decide on appropriate risk factors such as sector and issuer weightings and duration relative to the benchmark index. The portfolio managers then determine appropriate position sizes to reflect desired risk positioning. In doing so, the portfolio managers consider recommendations from a globally interconnected team of specialist decision makers in positioning the Fund to generate alpha. The portfolio managers generally rely upon a team of market-specific specialists for trade execution and for assistance in determining efficient ways (in terms of cost-efficiency and security selection) to implement those recommendations. 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. Specialists employ a bottom-up approach to recommend larger or smaller exposure to specific risk factors. In general, specialists will look for attractive risk-reward opportunities and securities that they believe best enable the Fund to pursue those opportunities. The portfolio managers consider the recommendations of these market-specific specialists in adjusting the Funds risk exposures and security selection on a real-time basis using proprietary communication technology. Decisions to purchase or sell securities are determined by the 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 Funds macro risk exposure (such as duration, yield curve positioning and sector exposure), a need to limit or reduce the Funds exposure to a particular security or issuer, degradation of an issuers credit quality, or general liquidity needs of the Fund. The Fund will attempt to maintain (i) a dollar-weighted average portfolio maturity of between three and 10 years; and (ii) a duration (the Funds price sensitivity to changes in interest rates) of within +/- two years of the benchmark index. The foregoing maturity and duration targets are not guaranteed and the portfolio managers may deviate from such targets in their discretion. In attempting to meet its investment objective or to manage subscription and redemption requests, the Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities. The credit research process utilized by the Fund to implement its investment strategy in pursuit of its investment objective considers factors that may include, but are not limited to, an issuers 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 portfolio managers 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. Show less