may have markets that are less liquid, less regulated and more
volatile than U.S. markets. The value of the fund’s investments may decline because of factors affecting the particular issuer as well as foreign markets and issuers generally, such as unfavorable or unsuccessful government actions, reduction
of government or central bank support, political or financial instability or other adverse economic or political developments. Lack of information and weaker accounting standards also may affect the value of these securities.
High-Yield Debt Securities – High-yield debt securities, commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, are securities that are rated below “investment grade” or, if unrated, determined to be below investment grade by the
sub-adviser. Changes in interest rates, the market’s perception of the issuers and the creditworthiness of the issuers may significantly affect the value of these bonds. Junk bonds are considered speculative, have a higher risk of default,
tend to be less liquid and may be more difficult to value than higher grade securities. Junk bonds tend to be volatile and more susceptible to adverse events, credit downgrades and negative sentiments.
Interest Rate
– Interest rates in the U.S. have been at historically low levels and should be expected to go up. The fund faces a heightened risk that interest rates may rise. The value of fixed income securities generally goes down when interest rates
rise, and therefore the value of your investment in the fund may also go down. Debt securities have varying levels of sensitivity to changes in interest rates. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or duration
securities. A general rise in interest rates may cause investors to move out of fixed income securities on a large scale, which could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions
from the fund.
Legal and Regulatory – Legal and regulatory changes could occur that may adversely affect the fund, its investments, and its ability to pursue its investment strategies and/or increase the costs of implementing such strategies. New or
revised laws or regulations may be imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Federal Reserve or other governmental regulatory authorities or
self-regulatory organizations that could adversely affect the fund. The fund also may be adversely affected by changes in the enforcement or interpretation of existing statutes and rules by governmental regulatory authorities or self-regulatory
organizations.
Leveraging – The value of your investment may be more volatile to the extent that the fund borrows or uses derivatives or other investments, such as ETFs, that have embedded leverage. Other risks also will be compounded
because leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the fund would otherwise have. The use of leverage is considered to be a speculative investment
practice and may result in the loss of a substantial amount, and possibly all, of the fund's assets. The fund also may have to sell assets at inopportune times to satisfy its obligations or meet segregation requirements.
Liquidity
– The fund may make investments that are illiquid or that become illiquid after purchase. Investments may become illiquid due to the lack of an active market, a reduced number of traditional market participants, or reduced capacity of
traditional
market participants to make a market in securities. The liquidity
and value of investments can deteriorate rapidly and those investments may be difficult or impossible for the fund to sell, particularly during times of market turmoil. Illiquid investments can be difficult to value. Markets may become illiquid
when, for instance, there are few, if any, interested buyers or sellers or when dealers are unwilling to make a market for certain securities. As a general matter, dealers recently have been less willing to make markets for fixed income securities.
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 loss. The fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of securities for an extended period (for example,
several weeks or even longer).
Management – The fund is subject to the risk that the investment manager’s or sub-adviser’s judgments and decisions may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the desired results. The value of your investment
may decrease if the investment manager’s or sub-adviser’s judgment about the quality, relative yield or value of, or market trends affecting, a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the
economy or interest rates, is incorrect. The fund may also suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, or the analyses employed or relied on, by
the investment manager or sub-adviser, if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly, fail to produce the desired results 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. The fund’s investment strategies designed by the investment manager or sub-adviser may not work as intended. In addition, the fund’s investment
strategies or policies may change from time to time. Those changes may not lead to the results intended by the investment manager or sub-adviser and could have an adverse effect on the value or performance of the fund. Any of these things could
cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
Market –
The value of the fund's securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions, inflation, changes in interest rates or currency rates,
lack of liquidity in the markets or adverse investor sentiment. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities. The value of securities also may go down due to events or conditions that affect
particular sectors, industries or issuers. If the value of the securities owned by the fund fall, the value of your investment will go down. The fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any individual security.
In the past decade, financial markets
throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These market
conditions may continue, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars and terror attacks); measures to address budget
deficits; downgrading of sovereign debt; declines in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange