Mortgage-backed securities generally consist of government mortgage pass-through securities,
collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), multiclass pass-through securities, private mortgage pass-through
securities, stripped mortgage securities and inverse floaters. The Fund historically has invested primarily
in mortgage-backed securities that directly or indirectly represent a participation in, or are secured by and
payable from, mortgage loans secured by real property. Mortgage-backed securities also include mortgage
pass-through certificates representing participation interests in pools of mortgage loans originated by the U.S. government or private lenders and guaranteed by U.S. government agencies such as the Government National Mortgage
Association (GNMA), the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corporation (FHLMC).
The Fund may invest in real estate mortgage investment conduits
(REMICs).
The Fund may invest in stripped mortgage securities, which are derivative multi-class
mortgage securities.
The Fund may also invest in asset-backed
securities.
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. The Fund’s investments may
include securities that do not produce immediate cash income, such as zero coupon securities and payment-in-kind securities.
The Fund may purchase and sell securities on a when-issued and delayed delivery basis, which means that the Fund may buy or sell 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 can invest in derivative instruments including swap contracts, options and
futures 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 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, including 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 utilizes active duration (i.e., making investments to reduce or increase the sensitivity of the Fund’s 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 Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Index).
The portfolio managers utilize the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Index as a reference in structuring the portfolio. The portfolio managers decide on appropriate risk factors
such as duration, the shape of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, Federal Agency exposure, Federal Agency
mortgage-backed security exposure, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Security (TIPS) exposure relative to
this index. The portfolio managers then employ proprietary technology to calculate appropriate position sizes for each of these risk factors. 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 selection) to implement those
recommendations. Specialist
investment professionals employ both top down and bottom-up analysis in determining whether to recommend larger or smaller exposure to specific risk factors. In general, these specialists will look for attractive risk-reward
opportunities and securities that best enable the Fund to pursue those opportunities. The portfolio managers consider the recommendations of these market-specific specialists in adjusting the Fund’s risk exposures and security selection
on a real-time basis using proprietary communication technology. 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.
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 Fund’s macro risk exposure (such as duration, yield curve positioning and sector exposure), a decision to limit or reduce the Fund’s exposure to a particular security or issuer, degradation of an
issuer’s credit quality or general liquidity needs of the Fund.
In attempting to meet its investment objective or to manage subscription and
redemption requests, the Fund engages in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
As with any mutual fund investment, loss of money is a risk of investing. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The risks associated with an investment in the Fund can increase during times of significant market volatility. The
principal risks of investing in the Fund are:
Market Risk. The market values of the Fund’s investments, and therefore the value of the Fund’s shares, will go up and
down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or section of
the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to the particular issuer, such as real or perceived adverse economic
conditions, changes in the general outlook for revenues or corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, regional or global instability, natural or environmental disasters, widespread disease or other public health
issues, war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, economic crisis or adverse investor sentiment generally. 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.
Debt Securities
Risk. The prices of debt securities held by the Fund will be affected by changes in interest rates, the creditworthiness of the issuer and other factors. An increase in
prevailing interest rates typically causes the value of existing debt securities to fall and often has a greater impact on longer-duration debt securities and higher quality debt securities. Falling interest rates will cause the Fund
to reinvest the proceeds of debt securities that have been repaid by the issuer at lower interest rates. Falling interest rates may also reduce the Fund’s distributable income because interest payments on floating rate debt
instruments held by the Fund will decline. The Fund could lose money on investments in debt securities if the
issuer or borrower fails to meet its obligations to make interest payments and/or to repay principal in a
timely manner. Changes in an issuer’s financial strength, the market’s perception of such strength or in the credit rating of the issuer or the security may affect the value of debt securities. The Adviser’s credit analysis may fail to
anticipate such changes, which could result in buying a debt security at an inopportune time or failing to sell a debt security in advance of a price decline or other credit event.
Changing Fixed Income Market Conditions Risk. Increases in the federal
funds and equivalent foreign rates or other changes to monetary