The Portfolio invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities rated A or better by NRSROs (or, if unrated, determined by AllianceBernstein L.P., the Portfolio’s investment manager (the “Manager”), to be of comparable quality) and comparably rated commercial paper and notes. Many types of securities may be purchased by the Portfolio, including corporate bonds, notes, U.S. government and agency securities, asset-backed securities, mortgage-related securities, inflation-protected securities, bank loan debt and preferred stock, as well as others. The Portfolio may also invest up to 20% of its total assets in fixed-income foreign securities in developed or emerging-market countries.

The Portfolio may use derivatives, such as options, futures contracts, forward contracts and swaps. 

The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its total assets in fixed-income securities rated BB or B by NRSROs, which are not investment grade (commonly known as “junk bonds”). 

In managing the Portfolio, the Manager may use interest rate forecasting to estimate an appropriate level of interest rate risk at a given time. 

The Portfolio seeks to maintain an effective duration of one to three years under normal market conditions. Duration is a measure that relates the expected price volatility of a security to changes in interest rates. The duration of a debt security is the weighted average term to maturity, expressed in years, of the present value of all future cash flows, including coupon payments and principal repayments. 

Within the range described above, the Manager may moderately shorten the average duration of the Portfolio when it expects interest rates to rise and moderately lengthen average duration when it anticipates that interest rates will fall. 

The Manager selects securities for purchase or sale based on its assessment of the securities’ risk and return characteristics as well as the securities’ impact on the overall risk and return characteristics of the Portfolio. In making this assessment, the Manager takes into account various factors including the credit quality and sensitivity to interest rates of the securities under consideration and of the Portfolio’s other holdings. 

The Portfolio may enter into foreign currency transactions on a spot (i.e., cash) basis or through the use of derivatives transactions, such as forward currency exchange contracts, currency futures and options thereon, and options on currencies. An appropriate hedge of currency exposure resulting from the Portfolio’s securities positions may not be available or cost effective, or the Manager may determine not to hedge the positions, possibly even under market conditions where doing so could benefit the Portfolio.