Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in bonds, including derivative instruments or other investments that have economic characteristics similar to bonds. The Fund may invest in U.S. and foreign debt securities, including those in emerging markets. Debt securities include all varieties of fixed, variable and floating rate income securities, including bonds, U.S. and foreign government and agency securities, corporate loans (and loan participations) and mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities. The Fund shifts its investments among various classes of debt securities and at any given time may have a substantial amount of its assets invested in any class of debt security.

The Fund follows a core plus strategy, which means it invests primarily in investment-grade securities, but also may invest up to 30% of its assets in below investment grade securities to potentially increase returns. The below-investment grade debt securities in which the Fund invests are generally rated at least Caa by Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) or CCC by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) or are unrated securities the Fund's investment manager determines are of comparable quality.

The Fund targets an estimated average portfolio duration, under normal market conditions, of within one and a half years of the average portfolio duration of the Fund’s benchmark, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Index. As of July 31, 2025, the average portfolio duration of the Bloomberg US Aggregate Index was 6.03 years.

The Fund may invest in many different securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or by non-U.S. governments, or their respective agencies or instrumentalities, including mortgage-backed securities and inflation-indexed securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. Mortgage-backed securities represent an interest in a pool of mortgage loans made by banks and other financial institutions to finance purchases of homes, commercial buildings and other real estate. The individual mortgage loans are packaged or "pooled" together for sale to investors.

As the underlying mortgage loans are paid off, investors receive principal and interest payments. These securities may be fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities (ARMS). The Fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the "to-be-announced" (TBA) market. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered must meet specified terms and standards. The Fund may also invest in collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and a small portion of its assets directly in mortgage loans.

For purposes of pursuing its investment goals, the Fund regularly enters into various currency-related transactions involving derivative instruments, including currency and cross currency forwards, currency swaps, currency and currency index futures contracts and currency options. The Fund regularly enters into interest rate and credit-related transactions involving derivative instruments, including interest rate, fixed income total return and credit default swaps and interest rate and/ or bond futures contracts. The use of these derivative transactions may allow the Fund to obtain net long or net short exposures to selected currencies, interest rates, countries, durations or credit risks. These derivative instruments may also be used for hedging purposes, to enhance Fund returns or to obtain exposure to various market sectors.

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in complex fixed income securities, such as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which are generally a type of asset-backed securities. The Fund's investments in CDOs may include investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are a type of CDO.

The Fund's investment manager is a research driven, fundamental investor that relies on a team of analysts to provide in-depth industry expertise and uses both qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate issuers. The Fund uses an active asset allocation strategy to try to achieve its investment goals. The investment manager uses a "top-down" analysis of macroeconomic trends combined with a "bottom-up" fundamental analysis of market sectors, industries, and issuers to try to take advantage of varying sector reactions to economic events.