·
Moral Obligation Bonds Risk
moral
obligation bonds are generally issued by special purpose public authorities of a state or municipality.
If the issuer is unable to meet its obligations, repayment of these bonds becomes a moral commitment,
but not a legal obligation, of the state or municipality;
·
Municipal Notes Risk
municipal notes are shorter-term municipal debt
obligations that pay interest that is, in the opinion of bond counsel, generally excludable from gross
income for federal income tax purposes (except that the interest may be includable in taxable income
for purposes of the federal alternative minimum tax) and that have a maturity that is generally one year
or less. If there is a shortfall in the anticipated proceeds, the notes may not be fully repaid and the
Fund may lose money; and
·
Municipal Lease Obligations Risk
in
a municipal lease obligation, the issuer agrees to make payments when due on the lease obligation. Although
the issuer does not pledge its unlimited taxing power for payment of the lease obligation, the lease
obligation is secured by the leased property.
Municipalities continue to experience economic
and financial difficulties in the current economic environment. The ability of a municipal issuer to
make payments and the value of municipal bonds can be affected by uncertainties in the municipal securities
market. Such uncertainties could cause increased volatility in the municipal securities market and could
negatively impact the Fund's net asset value and/or the distributions paid by the Fund.
Municipal Bond Concentration Risk:
From time to time the Fund may invest a substantial
amount of its assets in municipal bonds whose interest is paid solely from revenues of similar projects.
If the Fund concentrates its investments in this manner, it assumes the legal and economic risks relating
to such projects and this may have a significant impact on the Funds investment performance. In
addition, the Fund may invest more heavily in bonds from certain cities or regions than others, which
may increase the Funds exposure to losses resulting from economic, political, or regulatory occurrences
impacting these particular cities or regions.
Debt
Securities Risk:
The risks of investing in debt securities include (without limitation): (i) credit
risk, i.e., the issuer may not repay the loan created by the issuance of that debt security; (ii) maturity
risk, i.e., a debt security with a longer maturity may fluctuate in value more than one with a shorter
maturity; (iii) market risk, i.e., low demand for debt securities may negatively impact their price;
(iv) interest rate risk, i.e., when interest rates go up, the value of a debt security goes down, and
when interest rates go down, the value of a debt security goes up; (v) selection risk, i.e., the securities
selected by the Subadvisor may underperform the market or other securities selected by other funds; and
(vi) call risk, i.e., during a period of falling interest rates, the issuer may redeem a security by
repaying it early, which may reduce the Funds income if the proceeds are reinvested at lower interest
rates.
Interest rates in the United States are at, or near, historic lows, which may increase
the Funds exposure to risks associated with rising rates. Moreover, rising interest rates may lead
to decreased liquidity in the bond markets, making it more difficult for the Fund to sell its bond holdings
at a time when the Subadvisor might wish to sell. Decreased market liquidity also may make it more difficult
to value some or all of the Funds bond holdings.
Distressed
Securities Risk:
Investments in distressed securities are subject to substantial risks in addition
to the risks of investing in other types of high-yield securities. Distressed securities are speculative
and involve substantial risk that principal will not be repaid. Generally, the Fund will not receive
interest payments on such securities and may incur costs to protect its investment. In addition, the
Fund's ability to sell distressed securities and any securities received in exchange for such securities
may be restricted.
High-Yield Municipal Bond Risk:
High-yield or non-investment grade municipal bonds (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") may be subject
to increased liquidity risk as compared to other high-yield debt securities. There may be little or no
active trading market for certain high-yield municipal bonds, which may make it difficult for the Fund
to sell such bonds at or near their perceived value. In such cases, the value of a high-yield municipal
bond may decline dramatically, even during periods of declining interest rates. The high-yield municipal
bonds in which the Fund intends to invest may be more likely to pay interest that is includable in taxable
income for purposes of the federal alternative minimum tax than other municipal bonds.
Derivatives Risk:
Derivatives are investments whose value depends on (or is
derived from) the value of an underlying instrument, such as a security, asset, reference rate or index.
Derivative strategies often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Fund
to lose more money than it would have lost had it invested in the underlying instrument. Derivatives
may be difficult to sell, unwind or value. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which
is the risk that the counterparty (the party on the other side of the transaction) on a derivative transaction
will be unable to honor its contractual obligations to the Fund. Futures may be more volatile than direct
investments in the instrument underlying the futures, and may not correlate perfectly to the underlying
instrument. Futures also may involve a small initial investment relative to the risk assumed, which could
result in losses greater than if they had not been used. Due to fluctuations in the price of the underlying
security, the Fund may not be able to profitably exercise an option and may lose its entire investment
in an option.
Liquidity and Valuation Risk:
Securities purchased by the Fund that are liquid at the time of purchase may subsequently become illiquid
due to events relating to the issuer of the securities, market events, economic conditions or investor
perceptions.The lack of an active trading market may make it difficult to obtain an accurate price for
a security. If market conditions make it difficult to value securities, the Fund may value these securities
using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for a
security could be different than the value realized upon such security's sale. As a result, an investor
could pay more than the market value when buying Fund shares or receive less than the market value when
selling Fund shares. Liquidity risk may also refer to the risk that the Fund may not be able to pay redemption
proceeds within the allowable time period because of unusual market conditions, unusually high volume
of redemptions, or other reasons. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell securities
at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions.
New
York State Specific Risk:
Because the Fund invests in municipal bonds issued by or on behalf of
the State of New York, and its political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities, events in New
York may affect the Funds investments and performance. These events may include fiscal or political
policy changes, tax base erosion, budget deficits and other financial difficulties. New York continues
to experience financial difficulties due to the economic environment. The further deterioration of New
Yorks fiscal situation and economic situation of its municipalities could cause greater volatility
and increase the risk of investing in New York.
Tax
Risk:
Income from municipal bonds held by the Fund could be declared taxable because of unfavorable
changes in tax law, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities,
or noncompliant conduct of a bond issuer.
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