Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued, backed or otherwise guaranteed by the U.S. Government, or its agencies or instrumentalities (the “80% Policy”). The Fund may invest in mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), including collateralized mortgage obligations, issued, backed or otherwise guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities or privately issued but collateralized by fixed or adjustable rate mortgages that are insured, guaranteed or otherwise backed by the U.S. Government, or its agencies or instrumentalities. These investments may include MBS that have had a history of refinancing opportunities (so-called “seasoned MBS”). The Fund may invest significantly in securities issued by various U.S. Government-sponsored entities, such as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and the Federal National Mortgage Association. While such issuers may be chartered or sponsored by acts of Congress, their securities are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Fund’s shares are not guaranteed by the U.S. Government.

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in instruments other than securities issued, backed or otherwise guaranteed by the U.S. Government, or its agencies or instrumentalities including privately issued residential and commercial MBS, mortgage-related loans, asset-backed securities, non-U.S. mortgage-related instruments and other income instruments.  The Fund may invest in instruments of any credit rating, including those rated below investment grade (rated below BBB by either S&P Global Ratings or Fitch Ratings, or below Baa by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.) or in unrated instruments considered to be of comparable quality by the investment adviser (often referred to as “junk” instruments).

The Fund may invest in stripped securities which may be issued by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities, and may also be issued by private originators or investors, including depository institutions, banks, investment banks and special purpose subsidiaries of these entities.

The Fund may engage in derivative transactions.  Transactions in derivative instruments may include: the purchase or sale of futures contracts on securities, indices or other financial instruments or currencies; options on futures contracts; exchange-traded and over-the-counter options on securities, indices, currencies and other instruments; and interest rate, credit default, inflation and total return swaps.  The Fund may take short or long positions with regard to certain synthetic total return swap indices. The Fund may use interest rate swaps and options on interest rate swaps for risk management purposes and not as a speculative investment and would typically use interest rate swaps to shorten the average interest rate reset time of its holdings.  The Fund may engage in other derivatives to seek return, to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates, to change the duration of obligations held by the Fund, to manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies.  Except as required by applicable regulation, there is no stated limit on the Fund’s use of derivatives for such purposes.

The portfolio managers may also use other active management techniques, such as mortgage dollar roll transactions, forward commitments, repurchase agreements, reverse repurchase agreements and any combination thereof. The Fund may enter into forward commitments to buy or sell agency MBS (to-be-announced transactions, or “TBAs”). The Fund may engage in short sales of securities with respect to not more than 25% of its net assets. The Fund may borrow from banks for investment purposes.

The portfolio managers seek to purchase securities believed to be the best relative value with regard to price, yield, and expected total return in relation to other available instruments.  Investment decisions are primarily made on the basis of fundamental research and relative value.  The portfolio managers may sell a security when they believe the security no longer represents the best relative value and the fundamental research or cash needs dictate.  When deemed by the investment adviser to be relevant to its evaluation of creditworthiness and when applicable information is available, the investment adviser considers environmental, social and/or governance issues (referred to as ESG) which may impact the prospects of an issuer (or obligor) or financial performance of an obligation. When considered, one or more ESG issues are taken into account alongside other factors in the investment decision‐making process and are not the sole determinant of whether an investment can be made or will remain in the Fund’s portfolio.