Principal
Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Core Bond Fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds and maintains
an average portfolio duration that is within ±20% of the duration of the benchmark. As of December 31, 2022, the average duration of the benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, was 6.32 years, as calculated by BlackRock.
The Core Bond Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in assets
of foreign issuers, of which 10% (as a percentage of the Fund’s assets) may be invested in emerging markets issuers. Up to 10% of the Core Bond Fund’s assets may be
exposed to non-US currency risk. A bond of a foreign issuer, including an emerging market issuer, will not count toward the 10% limit on non-US currency exposure if the bond is either (i) US dollar-denominated or (ii) non-US dollar-denominated, but hedged back to US dollars.
The Core Bond Fund only buys securities that are rated investment grade at the time of purchase by at least one major
rating agency or determined by the Core Bond Fund’s management team to be of similar quality. Split rated bonds will be considered to have the higher credit rating.
The management team evaluates sectors of the bond market and individual securities
within these sectors. The management team selects bonds from several sectors including: U.S. Treasuries and agency securities, commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”), asset-backed securities and corporate bonds.
The Core Bond Fund may buy or sell options or futures on a security or an index of
securities, or enter into credit default swaps and interest rate or foreign currency transactions, including swaps (collectively, commonly known as derivatives). The Core Bond Fund may use derivative instruments to hedge its investments or to seek to enhance returns.
The Core Bond Fund may seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other
investment techniques (such as reverse repurchase agreements and mortgage dollar rolls).
The Core Bond Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities
to achieve its principal investment strategies.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
Risk is inherent in all investing. The value of your investment in the Fund, as well
as the amount of return you receive on your investment, may fluctuate significantly from day to day and over time. You may lose part or all of your investment in the Fund or your investment may not perform as well as other similar investments. The following is a
summary description of principal risks of investing in the Fund. The relative significance of each risk factor below may change over time and you should review each risk factor carefully.
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Debt Securities Risk — Debt securities, such as bonds, involve risks, such as credit risk, interest rate risk, extension risk, and
prepayment risk, each of which are described in further detail below:
Credit Risk — Credit risk refers to the possibility that the
issuer of a debt security (i.e., the borrower) will not be able to make payments of interest and principal when due. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the
market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on both the financial condition of the issuer and the terms of the obligation.
Interest Rate Risk — The market value of bonds and other fixed-income securities changes in response to interest rate changes and
other factors. Interest rate risk is the risk that prices of bonds and other fixed-income securities will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates
rise.
The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the recent period of historically low interest
rates. For example, if interest rates increase by 1%, assuming a current portfolio duration of ten years, and all other factors being equal, the value of the Fund’s investments would be expected to decrease by 10%. (Duration is a
measure of the price sensitivity of a debt security or portfolio of debt securities to relative changes in interest rates.) The magnitude of these fluctuations in the market price of bonds and other fixed-income securities is generally
greater for those securities with longer maturities. Fluctuations in the market price of the Fund’s investments will not affect interest income derived from instruments
already owned by the Fund, but will be reflected in the Fund’s net asset value. The Fund may lose money if short-term or long-term interest rates rise sharply in a manner not anticipated by Fund management.
To the extent the Fund invests in debt securities that may be
prepaid at the option of the obligor (such as mortgage-backed securities), the sensitivity of such securities to changes in interest rates may increase (to the detriment of
the Fund) when interest rates rise. Moreover, because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset