fixed-income
securities owned by the fund falls, the value of your investment will go down. The fund may lose its entire investment in the fixed-income securities of an issuer.
Municipal Securities – The municipal bond market can be susceptible to unusual volatility, particularly for lower-rated and unrated securities. Liquidity can be
reduced unpredictably in response to overall economic conditions or credit tightening.
Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, increasing
unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. The value of municipal securities can also be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more
individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning
these and other factors. To the extent the fund invests significantly in a single state or in
securities the payments on which are dependent upon a single project or source of revenue,
or that relate to a sector or industry, the fund will be more susceptible to associated risks and developments. Municipal issuers may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar
periods of economic stress. A number of municipal issuers have defaulted on obligations,
commenced insolvency proceedings, or suffered credit downgrading. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or worsen.
Investment in municipal securities of issuers in Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, or other U.S. territories, may have more risks than tax-exempt securities issued by other issuers due to the political, social and/or economic conditions in the particular territory.
Interest
Rate –The value of fixed-income securities generally goes down when interest rates
rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or duration securities. Changes in interest rates also may affect the liquidity of the fund’s investments. A variety of
factors can impact interest rates, including central bank monetary policies and inflation rates. A general rise in interest rates may cause investors to sell fixed-income securities on a large scale, which could
adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed-income securities generally and could also result in increased redemptions from the fund. Increased redemptions could cause the fund to sell securities at
inopportune times or depressed prices and result in further losses. Recently, inflation and interest rates have been volatile and may increase in the future. Interest rate increases in the future may cause
the value of fixed-income securities to decrease and, conversely, interest rate reductions may cause the value of fixed-income securities to increase.
Credit
– If an issuer or other obligor (such as a party providing insurance or other credit enhancement) of a security held by the fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the fund is unable or unwilling to meet its
financial obligations, or is downgraded or perceived to be less creditworthy (whether by market participants, ratings agencies, pricing services or otherwise), or if the value of any underlying assets
declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. A decline may be rapid and/or
significant, particularly in certain market environments. In addition, the fund may incur
costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer, obligor or counterparty.
Liquidity
– The fund may make investments that are illiquid or that become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid investments can be difficult to value, may trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments, and may be subject
to wide fluctuations in value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in rising interest rate or
volatile environments. If the fund is forced to sell an illiquid investment to meet
redemption requests or other cash needs, the fund may be forced to sell at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. Liquidity of particular investments, or even entire asset classes, including U.S. Treasury
securities, can deteriorate rapidly, particularly during times of market turmoil, and those investments may be difficult or impossible for the fund to sell. This may prevent the fund from limiting
losses.
Counterparty – The fund could lose money if the counterparties to derivatives, repurchase agreements and/or
other financial contracts entered into for the fund do not fulfill their contractual
obligations. In addition, the fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in
enforcing its rights against a counterparty. These risks may be greater to the extent the fund has more contractual exposure to a counterparty.
Extension – When interest rates rise, payments of
fixed-income securities, including asset- and mortgage-backed securities, may occur more
slowly than anticipated, causing their market prices to decline.
Inflation – The value of assets or income from investment
may be worth less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation
increases, the real value of the fund’s assets can decline as can the value of the fund’s distributions.
Prepayment or Call – Many issuers have a right to prepay their fixed-income securities. If this happens, the fund
will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally
accompanies a decline in interest rates and may be forced to reinvest the prepayment proceeds in securities with lower yields.
Focused Investing – To the extent the fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a limited number of countries,
regions, sectors, industries or market segments, in a limited number of issuers, or in
issuers in related businesses or that are subject to related operating risks, the fund will be more susceptible to negative events affecting those countries, regions, sectors, industries, segments or issuers, and the value of
its shares may be more volatile than if it invested more widely.
Management – The value of your investment may go down if the investment manager’s or sub-adviser's
judgments and decisions are incorrect or otherwise do not produce the desired results, or
if the investment strategy does not work as intended. You may also suffer losses if there
are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, investment techniques applied, or the analyses employed or relied on, by the investment
manager or sub-adviser, if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly or otherwise do not work as intended, or if
the investment manager’s or sub-adviser's investment style is out of favor or otherwise fails to produce the desired results. Any of these things could cause the fund to lose value or its results to
lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.