| Eaton Vance South Carolina Municipal Income Fund | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment Objective |
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The Fund’s investment objective is to provide current income exempt from regular federal income tax and South Carolina state personal income tax. |
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Fees and Expenses of the Fund |
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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may qualify for a reduced sales charge if you invest, or agree to invest over a 13-month period, at least $50,000 in Eaton Vance Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary and in Sales Charges beginning on page 5 5 of this Prospectus and page 19 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information. |
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
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Example. |
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: |
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Portfolio Turnover |
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The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” the portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 30 % of the average value of its portfolio. |
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Principal Investment Strategies |
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Under normal market circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in municipal obligations that are exempt from regular federal income tax and the state taxes specified in the Fund’s investment objective (the “80% Policy”). The Fund may invest without limit in obligations the income from which is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. At least 75% of net assets normally will be invested in municipal obligations rated at least investment grade at the time of investment (which are those rated Baa or higher by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or BBB or higher by either Standard & Poor’s Ratings Group (“S&P”) or Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”)) or, if unrated, determined by the investment adviser to be of at least investment grade quality. The balance of net assets may be invested in municipal obligations rated below investment grade and in unrated municipal obligations considered to be of comparable quality by the investment adviser (“junk bonds”). The Fund will not invest more than 10% of its net assets in obligations rated below B or in unrated obligations considered to be of comparable quality by the investment adviser. For purposes of rating restrictions, if securities are rated differently by the rating agencies, the higher rating is used. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 65% of its total assets in obligations issued by its state or its political subdivisions, agencies, authorities and instrumentalities. If consistent with relevant state tax requirements, the Fund may invest up to 35% of its net assets in municipal obligations issued by the governments of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. The Fund is “non-diversified” and may invest, with respect to 50% of its total assets, more than 5% (but not more than 25%) of its total assets in securities of any one issuer (such limitations do not apply to U.S. Government securities). The Fund may purchase or sell derivative instruments (such as residual interest bonds, futures contracts and options thereon, interest rate swaps, and forward rate contracts) for hedging purposes, to seek total return or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities. In pursuing its investment objective, the Fund normally acquires municipal obligations with maturities of ten years or more. The Fund’s portfolio often has a longer average maturity than is typical of most other funds that invest primarily in municipal obligations. As a result, the interest rate risk described below may be more significant for the Fund. The Fund may concentrate 25% or more of its total assets in certain types of municipal obligations (such as general obligations, municipal leases, revenue bonds and industrial development bonds) and in one or more sectors (such as housing, hospitals, healthcare facilities or utilities). The investment adviser’s process for selecting obligations for purchase and sale emphasizes the creditworthiness of the issuer or other person obligated to repay the obligation and the relative value of the obligation in the market. In evaluating creditworthiness, the investment adviser considers ratings assigned by rating agencies and generally performs additional credit and investment analysis. The portfolio manager also may trade securities to seek to minimize taxable capital gains to shareholders. A portion of the Fund’s distributions generally will be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. The Fund may not be suitable for investors subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. |
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Principal Risks |
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Municipal Bond Risk. The amount of public information available about municipal bonds is generally less than for corporate equities or bonds, meaning that the investment performance of municipal bond investments may be more dependent on the analytical abilities of the investment adviser than stock or corporate bond investments. The secondary market for municipal bonds also tends to be less well-developed and less liquid than many other securities markets, which may limit an owner’s ability to sell its bonds at attractive prices. The spread between the price at which an obligation can be purchased and the price at which it can be sold may widen during periods of market distress. Less liquid obligations can become more difficult to value and be subject to erratic price movements. The increased presence of non-traditional participants or the absence of traditional participants in the municipal markets may lead to greater volatility in the markets. Debt Market Risk. Economic and other events (whether real or perceived) can reduce the demand for investments held by the Fund, which may reduce their market prices and cause the value of Fund shares to fall. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted. Certain securities and other investments held by the Fund can experience downturns in trading activity and, at such times, the supply of such instruments in the market may exceed the demand. At other times, the demand for such instruments may exceed the supply in the market. An imbalance in supply and demand in the market may result in valuation uncertainties and greater volatility, less liquidity, wider trading spreads and a lack of price transparency in the market. No active trading market may exist for certain investments, which may impair the ability of the Fund to sell or to realize the full value of such investments in the event of the need to liquidate such assets. Adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of some actively traded investments. Interest Rate Risk. As interest rates rise, the value of Fund shares is likely to decline. Conversely, when interest rates decline, the value of Fund shares is likely to rise. Obligations with longer maturities generally offer higher yields, but involve greater risk because the prices of such obligations are more sensitive to changes in interest rates than obligations with shorter maturities. In a declining interest rate environment, prepayments of obligations may increase if the issuer has the ability to pre-pay or “call” the obligation. In such circumstances, the Fund may have to reinvest the prepayment proceeds at lower yields. Because the Fund is managed toward an income objective, it may hold more longer-maturity obligations and thereby be more exposed to interest rate risk than municipal income funds that are managed with a greater emphasis on total return. Credit Risk. Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances may reduce the capacity of issuers of fixed income securities to make principal and interest payments and may lead to defaults. Such defaults may reduce the value of Fund shares and income distributions. The value of a fixed income security also may decline because of real or perceived concerns about the issuer’s ability to make principal and interest payments. In addition, the credit rating of securities held by the Fund may be lowered if an issuer’s financial condition changes. Municipal obligations may be insured as to principal and interest payments. If the claims-paying ability or other rating of the insurer is downgraded by a rating agency, the value of such obligations may be negatively affected. In the case of an insured bond, the bond’s rating will be deemed to be the higher of the rating assigned to the bond’s issuer or the insurer. Risk of Lower Rated Investments. Investments rated below investment grade and comparable unrated securities (“ junk bonds ”) have speculative characteristics because of the credit risk associated with their issuers. Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances typically have a greater effect on the ability of issuers of lower rated investments to make principal and interest payments than they do on issuers of higher rated investments. An economic downturn generally leads to a higher non-payment rate, and a lower rated investment may lose significant value before a default occurs. Lower rated investments typically are subject to greater price volatility and illiquidity than higher rated investments. Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the asset, index, rate or instrument underlying a derivative, due to failure of a counterparty or due to tax or regulatory constraints. Derivatives may create economic leverage in the Fund, which magnifies the Fund’s exposure to the underlying investment. Derivatives risk may be more significant when derivatives are used to enhance return or as a substitute for a cash investment position, rather than solely to hedge the risk of a position held by the Fund. When derivatives are used to gain or limit exposure to a particular market or market segment, their performance may not correlate as expected to the performance of such market thereby causing the Fund to fail to achieve its original purpose for using such derivatives. A decision as to whether, when and how to use derivatives involves the exercise of specialized skill and judgment, and a transaction may be unsuccessful in whole or in part because of market behavior or unexpected events. Derivative instruments may be difficult to value, may be illiquid, and may be subject to wide swings in valuation caused by changes in the value of the underlying instrument. If a derivative’s counterparty is unable to honor its commitments, the value of Fund shares may decline and the Fund could experience delays in the return of collateral or other assets held by the counterparty. The loss on derivative transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment. Risk of Leveraged Transactions. Certain Fund transactions may give rise to a form of leverage. Such transactions may include, among others, the use of when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment transactions, residual interest bonds, short sales and certain derivative transactions. The Fund is required to segregate liquid assets or otherwise cover the Fund’s obligation created by a transaction that may give rise to leverage. The use of leverage may cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations or to meet segregation requirements. Leverage may cause the Fund to be more volatile than if it had not been leveraged, as certain types of leverage may exaggerate the effect of any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities. The loss on leveraged transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment. Risk of Residual Interest Bonds. The Fund may enter into residual interest bond transactions, which expose the Fund to leverage and greater risk than an investment in a fixed-rate municipal bond. The interest payments that the Fund receives on the residual interest bonds acquired in such transactions vary inversely with short-term interest rates, normally decreasing when short-term rates increase. The value and market for residual interest bonds are volatile and such bonds may have limited liquidity. As required by applicable accounting standards, the Fund records interest expense on its liability with respect to floating-rate notes and also records offsetting interest income in an amount equal to this expense. Sector and Geographic Concentration Risk. Because the Fund will concentrate its investments in obligations issued in a particular state and may concentrate in certain sectors or types of obligations, the value of Fund shares may be affected by events that adversely affect that state, sector or type of obligation and may fluctuate more than that of a less concentrated fund. Please refer to the Fund's Statement of Additional Information for state-specific economic information. Risks of Principal Only Investments. Principal only investments entitle the holder to receive par value of such investment if held to maturity. The values of principal only investments are subject to greater fluctuation in response to changes in market interest rates than bonds which pay interest currently. The Fund will accrue income on these investments and is required to distribute that income each year. The Fund may be required to sell securities to obtain cash needed for such income distributions. Issuer Diversification Risk. The Fund is “non-diversified” which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer than funds that are “diversified.” Non-diversified funds face the risk of focusing investments in a small number of issuers, making them more susceptible to risks affecting such issuers than a more diversified fund might be. Tax Risk. Income from tax-exempt municipal obligations could be declared taxable because of unfavorable changes in tax laws, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service, or state tax authorities or non-compliant conduct of a bond issuer. A portion of the Fund’s income may be taxable to shareholders subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. Risks Associated with Active Management. The Fund is an actively managed portfolio and its success depends upon the investment skills and analytical abilities of the investment adviser to develop and effectively implement strategies to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Subjective decisions made by the investment adviser may cause the Fund to incur losses or to miss profit opportunities on which it may otherwise have capitalized. General Fund Investing Risks. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund. All investments carry a certain amount of risk and there is no guarantee that the Fund will be able to achieve its investment objective. Annual Fund Operating Expenses expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets may change as Fund assets increase and decrease, and Annual Fund Operating Expenses may differ in the future. Purchase and redemption activities by Fund shareholders may impact the management of the Fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, the redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the Fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the Fund. Investors in the Fund should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. 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 government agency, entity or person. Mutual funds, investment advisers, other market participants and many securities markets are subject to rules and regulations and the jurisdiction of one or more regulators. Changes to applicable rules and regulations could have an adverse affect on securities markets and market participants, as well as on the Fund’s ability to execute its investment strategy. |
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Performance |
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The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and how the Fund’s average annual returns over time compare with those of two broad-based securities market indices. The returns in the bar chart are for Class A shares and do not reflect a sales charge. If the sales charge was reflected, the returns would be lower. Past performance (both before and after taxes) is no guarantee of future results. Updated Fund performance information can be obtained by visiting www.eatonvance.com. |
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During the ten years ended December 31, 2011 , the highest quarterly total return for Class A was 12. 11 % for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, and the lowest quarterly return was -9.83 % for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The year-to-date total return through the end of the most recent calendar quarter (December 31, 2011 to September 30, 2012 ) was 9.57 %. For the 30 days ended August 31, 2012 , the SEC yield and SEC tax-equivalent yield (assuming a combined state and federal income tax rate of 39.55%) for Class A shares were 2.84 % and 4.70 %, respectively, for Class B shares were 2.24 % and 3.71 %, respectively, for Class C shares were 2.24 % and 3.71 %, respectively, and for Class I shares were 3.19 % and 5.28 %, respectively. A lower tax rate would result in lower tax-equivalent yields. For current yield information call 1-800-262-1122. |
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These returns reflect the maximum sales charge for Class A (4.75%) and any applicable contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) for Class B and Class C. The Class C performance shown above for the period prior to January 12, 2006 (commencement of operations) is the performance of Class B shares, adjusted for the sales charge that applies to Class C shares (but not adjusted for any other differences in the expenses of the two classes) and the Class I performance shown above for the period prior to March 3, 2008 (commencement of operations) is the performance of Class A shares at net asset value without adjustment for any differences in the expenses of the two classes. If adjusted for other expenses, returns would be different. Investors cannot invest directly in an Index. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual federal income tax rate and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on a shareholder’s tax situation and the actual characterization of distributions, and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant for shareholders who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. After-tax returns for other Classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Class A shares. Return After Taxes on Distributions for a period may be the same as Return Before Taxes for that period because no taxable distributions were made during that period. Also, Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be greater than or equal to Return After Taxes on Distributions for the same period because of losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. |