In seeking its investment objective, the Fund has the flexibility to allocate its assets in markets around the world and among various asset classes, including equity, fixed-income, commodity, currency and cash investments.  

The Fund is managed in a macro-driven, top-down style that emphasizes and de-emphasizes various global market segments and asset classes at different times.  Market segments chosen for emphasis and/or de-emphasis may vary from general market consensus views and the Fund may at times seek to identify areas where, in the sub-adviser’s opinion, there is scarcity of capital and/or potentially overlooked investment opportunities.  Exposures will vary among asset classes based on the sub-adviser’s assessment of a range of proprietary and non-proprietary quantitative indicators and the firm’s macro-economic analysis and judgment.  In using this “beta” management style, it is expected that the macro-economic analysis will evolve over time and may include consideration of the following:  historical risk and return characteristics; global market valuations; global yield curves; asset class, regional, and country correlations; profit cycle analyses and style and sector rotation; expected beta; estimate revisions and earnings surprises; investor sentiment; and other factors. In selecting securities and other instruments, the portfolio managers employ quantitative screening and optimization tools to achieve desired market exposures while seeking to manage security-specific and other observable market risks.  The portfolio is monitored on an ongoing basis and rebalanced as necessary to seek to ensure that desired market exposures and risk parameters are maintained.  Securities may be sold if they exhibit performance that might counteract the desired exposures or to implement a revised allocation based on a modified top-down view. A security may also be sold if the sub-adviser believes it exhibits unusual volatility or price movement.

The Fund currently expects to invest, under normal circumstances, 0-75% of its net assets in equity securities, 25-90% in fixed-income securities and other fixed and floating-rate income instruments, 0-25% in commodities (primarily through the use of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in commodities or commodities-related investments) and/or currencies, and 0-25% in cash and cash equivalents. The Fund may also invest in derivatives (as described below) to obtain such exposures. To the extent the Fund holds cash as collateral for derivatives, or enters into forward foreign currency exchange contracts to hedge current portfolio holdings, the ranges described above may be exceeded. The expected long-term (over a true secular cycle of at least 10 years) target allocation of the Fund is 60% in fixed-income securities and 40% in equity securities. There is no requirement to manage the Fund within this target allocation. The Fund’s actual asset allocation may be materially different depending on market conditions, and the Fund’s asset allocation over shorter or longer market cycles may differ materially from the target.

The Fund may invest without limit in both developed and emerging markets, including frontier markets. Such investments may include securities denominated in foreign currencies and securities trading in the form of depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), which are either sponsored or unsponsored, and Global Depositary Receipts. The Fund may invest in fixed-income securities of any credit quality including securities rated below investment grade and comparable unrated securities (“junk”), and expects to invest principally in fixed-income securities that are issued by corporations, issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities, obligations of other sovereign nations, municipal obligations, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, inflation-linked debt securities or zero coupon bonds. The Fund may also invest in senior loans and variable rate obligations.  The Fund may invest in stocks of companies of any capitalization, publicly traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”). The Fund may invest in ETFs, a type of pooled investment vehicle, in order to manage cash positions or seek exposure to certain markets or market sectors.  The Fund currently expects to gain exposures to certain types of investments principally through ETFs. Investment in cash or cash equivalents may include U.S. and foreign bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits, repurchase agreements, bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments with a remaining maturity of 397 days or less.  

The Fund may engage in derivative transactions to seek return, to seek to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates, to change the effective duration of the fixed-income securities in its portfolio, to manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities, currencies or commodities.  The Fund expects to use derivatives principally when seeking to gain exposure to equity or fixed-income securities using futures contracts on securities indices and/or when seeking to gain or reduce exposure to certain currencies by buying or selling forward foreign currency exchange contracts, but may also purchase or sell forwards or other types of futures contracts; options on futures contracts; exchange-traded and over-the-counter options; equity collars, equity-linked securities and equity swap agreements; interest rate, total return, inflation and credit default swaps; forward rate agreements; and credit linked notes and other similarly structured products. The Fund may also engage in covered short sales (on individual securities held or on an index or basket of securities whose constituents are held in whole or in part or for which liquid assets have been segregated) and forward commitments.  Except as required by applicable regulation, there is no stated limit on the Fund’s use of derivatives for such purposes. The Fund may also lend its securities.