rates that adjust whenever a specified interest rate changes and/or reset
on predetermined dates (such as the last day of a month or calendar
quarter). The Fund also considers floating-rate assets to include
securities with durations of less than or equal to one year and fixed-rate
securities with respect to which the Fund has entered into derivative
instruments to effectively convert the fixed-rate interest payments into
floating-rate interest payments. The Fund also may invest in a wide
variety of fixed-rate debt securities, including corporate bonds and
mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities issued on a public
or private basis, including mortgage pass-through securities, CMOs,
commercial or residential mortgage-backed securities, mortgage dollar
rolls/buybacks, CMO residuals, SMBSs and other securities that directly
or indirectly represent a participation in, or are secured by and payable
from, mortgage loans on real property. The Fund may make use of a
variety of other instruments, including CBOs, CLOs, CDOs, preferred
securities, commercial paper, zero-coupon and inflation-indexed bonds,
bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits and bankers’
acceptances, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), bonds, debentures,
notes, and other debt securities of U.S. and foreign (non-U.S.) corporate
and other issuers; obligations of foreign governments or their
sub-divisions, agencies and government sponsored enterprises and
obligations of international agencies and supranational entities;
municipal securities and other debt securities issued by states or local
governments and their agencies, authorities and other
government-sponsored enterprises, including taxable municipal
securities (such as Build America Bonds); inflation-indexed bonds issued
by both governments and corporations; structured notes, including
hybrid or indexed securities; credit-linked notes; structured credit
products; loans (including, among others, senior loans, delayed draw
and delayed funding loans, revolving credit facilities and loan
participations and assignments); covenant-lite obligations; preferred
securities and convertible debt securities (i.e., debt securities that may
be converted at either a stated price or stated rate into underlying
shares of common stock), including synthetic convertible debt securities
(i.e., instruments created through a combination of separate securities
that possess the two principal characteristics of a traditional convertible
security, such as an income-producing security and the right to acquire
an equity security) and CoCos. Certain debt instruments, such as
convertible bonds, also may include the right to participate in equity
appreciation. The principal and/or interest rate on some debt
instruments may be determined by reference to the performance of a
benchmark asset or market, such as an index of securities, or the
differential performance of two assets or markets, such as the level of
exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and a foreign currency or
currencies. The Fund may invest in debt securities of stressed, distressed
and defaulted issuers. Subject to the Fund’s investment limitations, at
any given time and from time to time, substantially all of the Fund’s
portfolio may consist of below investment grade securities. The Fund
may invest in various levels of the capital structure of an issuer of
mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities, including the equity or
“first loss” tranche. The Fund may invest in unsecured loans and
subordinated or mezzanine obligations, including second and lower lien
loans and the mezzanine and equity (or “first loss”) tranches of CLO