opportunities. In buying and selling securities for the fund, the Adviser performs a risk/reward analysis that includes an evaluation of credit risk, interest rate risk, prepayment risk, and the legal and technical structure of the security. The Adviser will attempt to take advantage of inefficiencies that it believes exist in the fixed-income markets, such as the diversity of participants working with different objectives and repeated temporary supply-demand imbalances. The Adviser seeks to invest in securities that the Adviser expects to offer attractive prospects for current income and/or capital appreciation in relation to the risk borne.
Main Risks
All investments carry a certain amount of risk and the fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. An investment in the fund is not a deposit or obligation of any bank, is not endorsed or guaranteed by any bank, and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in the fund. Below are the main risks of investing in the fund. All of the risks listed below are significant to the fund, regardless of the order in which they appear.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loans ("ARMs") Risk As with fixed rate mortgages, there can be no certainty as to the rate of prepayments on the ARMs in either stable or changing interest rate environments. In addition, there can be no certainty as to whether increases in the principal balances of the ARMs due to the addition of deferred interest may result in a default rate higher than that on ARMs that do not provide for negative amortization. Other factors affecting prepayment of ARMs include changes in mortgagors’ housing needs, job transfers, unemployment, mortgagors’ net equity in the mortgage properties and servicing decisions.
Asset-Backed, Mortgage-Related and Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk The fund may invest in asset-backed, mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities, including so-called “sub-prime” mortgages that are subject to certain other risks including prepayment and call risks. When mortgages and other obligations are prepaid and when securities are called, the fund may have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield or fail to recover additional amounts (i.e., premiums) paid for securities with higher interest rates, resulting in an unexpected capital loss and/or a decrease in the amount of dividends and yield. In periods of rising interest rates, the fund may be subject to extension risk, and may receive principal later than expected. As a result, in periods of rising interest rates, the fund may exhibit additional volatility. During periods of difficult or frozen credit markets, changes in interest rates, or deteriorating economic conditions, such securities may decline in value, face valuation difficulties, become more volatile and/or become illiquid.
CMOs and stripped mortgage-backed securities, including those structured as interest only (“IOs”) and principal only (“POs”), are more volatile and may be more sensitive to the rate of prepayments than other mortgage-related securities. CMOs are issued in multiple classes, and each class may have its own interest rate and/or final payment date. A class with an earlier final payment date may have certain preferences in receiving principal payments or earning interest. As a result, the value of some classes in which the fund invests may be more volatile and may be subject to higher risk of non-payment. The risk of default, as described under “Credit Risk”, for “sub-prime” mortgages is generally
higher than other types of mortgage-backed securities. The structure of some of these securities may be complex and there may be less available information than other types of debt securities.
The values of IO and PO mortgage-backed securities are more volatile than other types of mortgage-related securities. They are very sensitive not only to changes in interest rates, but also to the rate of prepayments. A rapid or unexpected increase in prepayments can significantly depress the price of interest-only securities, while a rapid or unexpected decrease could have the same effect on principal-only securities. In addition, because there may be a drop in trading volume, an inability to find a ready buyer, or the imposition of legal restrictions on the resale of securities, these instruments may be illiquid. The fund will be exposed to additional risk to the extent that it uses inverse floaters and inverse IOs, which are debt securities with interest rates that reset in the opposite direction from the market rate to which the security is indexed. These securities are more volatile and more sensitive to interest rate changes than other types of debt securities. In response to changes in market interest rates or other market conditions, the value of an inverse floater may increase or decrease at a multiple of the increase or decrease in the value of the underlying securities. If interest rates move in a manner not anticipated by the Adviser, the fund could lose all or substantially all of its investment in inverse IOs.
Collateralized Loan Obligations ("CLOs") Risk CLOs are subject to credit, interest rate, valuation, and prepayment and call, and extension risks. These securities also are subject to risk of default on the underlying asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn. The market value of CLOs may be affected by, changes in the market value of the underlying assets held by the CLO, changes in the distributions on the underlying assets, defaults and recoveries on the underlying assets, capital gains and losses on the underlying assets, prepayments on underlying assets and the availability, prices and interest rate of underlying assets.
Credit Risk There is a risk that issuers and counterparties will not make payments on securities and repurchase agreements held by the fund. Such default could result in losses to the fund. In addition, the credit quality of securities held by the fund may be lowered if an issuer’s financial condition changes. Lower credit quality may lead to greater volatility in the price of a security and in shares of the fund. Lower credit quality also may affect liquidity and make it difficult for the fund to sell the security.
Current Market Environment Risk Various sectors of the financial markets may experience an extended period of adverse conditions and.certain types of securitized bond investments may come under stress due to economic factors and trends, such as higher than expected interest rates, property vacancies and consumer stress.
Extension Risk If interest rates rise, repayments of principal on certain debt securities, including, but not limited to, floating rate loans and mortgage-related securities, may occur at a slower rate than expected and the expected maturity of those securities could lengthen as a result. This may drive the prices of these securities down because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer. In periods of rising rates, the fund may exhibit additional volatility.
Government Securities Risk The fund may invest in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its