American Depositary Receipt (“ADR”)
Represents shares of foreign companies traded in U.S. dollars on U.S. exchanges that are held by a U.S. bank or a trust. Foreign companies use ADRs in order to make it easier for Americans to buy their shares.
Asset-Backed Securities (“ABS”)
Asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of underlying assets such as motor vehicle installment sales or installment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property, and receivables from credit card arrangements.
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index measures the U.S. investment-grade fixed-rate bond market. The index is calculated on a total return basis. The index is unmanaged, its returns do not reflect any fees, expenses, or sales charges, and it is not available for direct investment.
Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Bond Index
The Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Bond Index measures the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. The index is calculated on a total return basis. The index is unmanaged, its returns do not reflect any fees, expenses, or sales charges, and it is not available for direct investment.
Collateralized Loan Obligation (“CLO”)
A collateralized loan obligation is a type of security backed by a pool of debt, typically low-rated corporate loans, structured so that there are several classes of bondholders with varying maturities, called tranches.
Constant Maturity Treasury (“CMT”)
The one-year CMT is the interpolated one-year yield of the most recently auctioned 4-, 13-, and 26-week U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills); the most recently auctioned 2-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year U.S. Treasury notes (T-notes); the most recently auctioned U.S. Treasury 30-year bond (T-bond); and the off-the-run Treasuries in the 20-year maturity range.
Credit Default Swap (“CDS”)
A CDS is a financial derivative contract that shifts the credit risk of a fixed income product to a counterparty in exchange for a premium. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the CDS “fee” or “spread”) to the seller and, in exchange, may expect to receive a payoff if the asset defaults.
Federal Reserve (the “Fed”)
The Central Bank of the United States, responsible for controlling the money supply, interest rates and credit with the goal of keeping the U.S. economy and currency stable. Governed by a seven-member board, the system includes 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, 25 branches and all national and state banks that are part of the system.
Leveraged Loan
Leveraged loans (also known as bank, senior or floating-rate loans) consists of below investment-grade credit quality loans that are arranged by banks and other financial institutions to help companies finance acquisitions, recapitalizations, or other highly leveraged transactions. Such loans may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions, although they are senior in the capital structure which typically provides investors/lenders a degree of potential credit risk protection.
London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”)
A benchmark rate that some of the world’s leading banks charge each other for short-term loans and that serves as the first step to calculating interest rates on various loans throughout the world.
Markit’s North American High Yield CDX Index (“Markit HYCDX”) (“CDX.NA.HY”)
CDX.NA.HY is composed of 100 liquid North American entities with high yield credit ratings that trade in the credit default swap market.
Mortgage-Backed Securities (“MBS”)
Mortgage-backed securities represent interests in pools of mortgage loans purchased from individual lenders by a federal agency or originated and issued by private lenders.
MSCI EAFE® Index (net)
The MSCI EAFE® (Europe, Australasia, Far East) Index (net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that measures developed foreign market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The index is calculated on a total return basis with net dividends reinvested. The index is unmanaged, its returns do not reflect any fees, expenses, or sales charges, and it is not available for direct investment.
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net)
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets. The index is calculated on a total return basis with net dividends reinvested. The index is unmanaged, its returns do not reflect any fees, expenses, or sales charges, and it is not available for direct investment.